Reader Forum: When service goes badly

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but maintain some editorial control so as to keep it free of commercials or attacks. Please send along submissions for this section to our editors at: dmeyer@ardenmediaco.com or tford@ardenmediaco.com.

 

A few weeks ago I went online to upgrade my wife’s cellphone. I thought this would be a quick task. A few clicks and a new cell phone would on the way. The Web site looked easy enough. I knew what phone I wanted. We are existing customers and eligible for an upgrade. I was thinking 15 minutes tops and I’d have a new phone in a few days. Oh boy was I wrong. I had trouble navigating to the page to select the phone I wanted. The site kept pushing certain models and plans I didn’t want nor need. Then I couldn’t get the Web site to recognize my account. Once I did, it didn’t recognize my wife as eligible for an upgrade. Half an hour later and I was nowhere. Forty five minutes later and I was frustrated and still nowhere. Needless to say I was extremely dissatisfied, not only with the Web site but with my carrier. I thought about switching carriers right then and there because I was so frustrated.

 

Back at the office I was looking at the results of our customer loyalty benchmarking research. What I learned was that my experience was not unique. Customers are more dissatisfied with their carrier’s Web site much more now than early in 2009. Not only had dissatisfaction with Web site customer service more than doubled, the impact the Web site experience has on customer loyalty has changed. Carriers need to take notice.

 

Last year GfK’s Loyalty BenchmarkPlus identified a carrier’s Web site as a “key enhancer.” In other words, having a satisfactory experience with a carrier’s Web site was a nice to have – it strengthens relationships but isn’t necessary. This year, Web site performance evolved to be both a “key enhancer” and a “key dissatisfier.” This means a negative experience with the Web site drives overall dissatisfaction while a positive experience drives delight and loyalty to the carrier.

 

The day I spent fighting the Web site of my wireless carrier is exactly what our analysis uncovered. Carriers need to provide a satisfactory experience on their Web site on every transaction – the Web site is now a basic functionality which must be delivered. Those carriers that fail risk disenfranchising customers. From my carrier’s perspective this is scary – they have no idea that a long tenured customer is contemplating switching because of a bad experience with their Web site. If they don’t have a feedback system to identify “key dissatisfiers” and “key enhancers” they have no way of knowing that the Web site is an issue and how impactful an experience on their site can be. When you consider how much service is being driven to the Web, not having a feedback system in place is like driving blind on the highway.

 

I have tried my carrier’s site again. I used the chat feature and couldn’t complete my transaction. Ugh! I haven’t left yet but I’m seriously considering my options. My carrier’s competitors’ Web sites sure do look easy to use.