Arie Goldshlager pointed me to a question on Quora: Why can’t customers think of one best company for customer service? In the question he points to a study where people where asked: “What is the best company for customer service?”
Answer: Can’t think of one.
Apparently, people can’t think of a single company that stands out for delivering superior customer service. Are you surprised? Why is that?
Here is my response on Quora:
I agree with the Adam Ramshaw. We could frame the question in a lot of different ways to lead us to an answer.
But still, your question is right on. If people could answer your question, then we might not be trying to find ways to make “great customer service business-as-usual”.
Another thought, is that I’m pretty sure people can tell you what the best company for innovation is. Simply because it is more exciting (think iPhone, iPad, Wii, etc). But customer service, it not seen as exciting. It is thought of as signal of “pain in the butt”.
With that said, I’m sure people could easily tell you who the worst company for customer service is without hesitation.
So, my counter question is: how can we make customer service exciting? How can we make it a source of joy?
Thoughts?
What is also interesting to me about the word cloud, is that Amazon, an innovative company, is the second biggest word behind “can’t think of one”. Is Amazon on that list because its become ubiquitous in our shopping habits? Where is Zappos on that list? Where is the Ritz Carlton?
What are your thoughts?