Archive for August, 2009

Some tips for the Yahoo Customer Experience

Posted by Jimmy Maher in Customer Experience on August 31st, 2009

Recently, my wife started to see the following error when she tried to access Yahoo Mail. The  error occurred on two different computers and with both IE 8 and Firefox 3.5. On the same computers, I can log onto mail.yahoo.com with my own account and have no problems receiving mail.

 

Sorry, Unable to process request at this time — error 999.

Unfortunately we are unable to process your request at this time. This error is usually temporary. Please try again later.

If you continue to experience this error, it may be caused by one of the following:

  • You may want to scan your system for spyware and viruses, as they may interfere with your ability to connect to Yahoo!. For detailed information on spyware and virus protection, please visit the Yahoo! Security Center.
  • This problem may be due to unusual network activity coming from your Internet Service Provider. We recommend that you report this problem to them.

While this error is usually temporary, if it continues and the above solutions don’t resolve your problem, please let us know.

 

As the error was not temporary, I submitted a request by clicking on the let us know link. I immediately got an automated response pointing the finger at my isp, my PC, malware etc. The error message ALREADY told me to do that.

Fair enough, it is an automated response and it gave a stock answer. I responded to the email and indicated that other yahoo mail accounts worked fine on the exact same pc’s with the same ISP. This time, a human being responded asking for more details plus some security information to verify identity. Alternatively, I could resubmit at the same let us know link. I choose the latter and this time had trouble with the confirm code required for submitting a help request …

 

Now that sure looks like 25uAMzez to me, but that code was not accepted after several repeated attempts. I later figured out that the A was a 4. I tried the audio code option and I failed at that too. I had to reload the page and start again with a new code to submit the ticket. Again, I got the same autoresponse as before. So I will respond to the email mentioned above instead. At the time of posting this, it has been a week since I first reported the issue and it is still not answered. OK – it’s a free email account and I should not expect instant access to a support person, but we do come to rely on email and it should work.

To whomever is responsible for customer experience at Yahoo – here are some easy wins that might help other users

 

  1. The error message and details are vague and might apply to any Yahoo page. As mail is an important service, the system should recognize this as a problem accessing mail and provide more specific diagnostic instructions.
  2. Definitely allow users to refresh the confirmation code – most other sites that use this irritating technology have the option to refresh the code
  3. Perhaps allow users to view and track  their help request tickets through a CRM
  4. Engage a third party (eg. Cubed Consulting) to audit your customer experience from the outside in

 

@jimmytmaher

 

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Little Interactions That Can Harm Your Brand

Posted by Jimmy Maher in Customer Experience on August 18th, 2009

Would you alienate prospects attending your promotional event? Would you send people away from an event with negative impressions of your company?  How important are the little interactions?

Recently, a colleague and I registered to attend a “Solutions Showcase” in San Francisco, from a leading Telco demonstrating their latest generation smartphones.  We received confirmation and attended the event.

On arrival we were told that we were not registered. The manger was, at first, apologetic, indicating that the event had been overbooked by 20% on the expectation that there would be no shows.  After learning that the invitation had been forwarded to us by a colleague who knew we were looking for a solution for our business, he said he would do his best to seat us, but had to give priority to those invited directly by company sales people.  We were eventually invited into the event.

After some compelling demonstrations of their new smart phones, it was announced that ALL attendees would receive one of the phones with two months voice and data service along with some other giveaways in exchange for our time that morning.

When we stopped by the desk to collect the gift, we were once again directed to the manager.  He explained that as we had not been invited directly by a company salesperson, we would not be getting the gift. The whole experience was distasteful and showed the Company in a poor light. We sent a complaint letter to the office of the CEO and this was handled very well by a telephoned apology and an honoring of the commitment to provide smartphones to all attendees.

This particular company has a reputation for good service and did, ultimately, address the issue.  To a certain extent, the damage had already been done.  Even the best companies are at risk of interactions that can have a damaging effect on the company’s reputation. However, even when things go wrong, it is possible to enhance the company’s reputation by following the principles below …

  1. Customer/prospect engagement is unpredictable – plan and prepare to address situations that go awry. Have a “crisis response plan” that guides company actions when the brand is threatened.
  2. React quickly when the problem surfaces. Apparently, the Company knew that this event had been posted to a blog and a lot of people had registered who were not in their target demographic. This was the time to address the situation.
  3. Train and empower your people to do the right thing.  There may sometimes be a cost, but over the long term this cost will be repaid many times over in customer loyalty and positive word of mouth.
  4. Make great customer service a core value and drive that core value throughout the organization.

 

Key Takeaway: Design and implement customer experience programs that help your company avoid major (and minor) missteps and to respond rapidly when your brand is threatened.

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