It has been 9 years since the release of the now-infamous song “United Breaks Guitars.” The protest song detailed the customer experience nightmare singer-songwriter Dave Carrol experienced after United Airlines broke his guitar during a flight and refused to compensate him for it. The accompanying music video, uploaded onto YouTube in July 2009, amassed more than 150,000 views in one day and resulted in a public relations nightmare for the airline. In an increasingly digital age, poor customer service experiences are often posted online, on review sites such as Yelp or on social media sites, particularly Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes,...
One of the worst customer experiences my family and I had was with a roadside assistance company a few years ago. We were pulling our camper to Charleston for a family vacation when two of the camper tires blew and we had to pull over on the side of the highway. My dad called our roadside assistance service to tow our camper to the nearest RV service center. After ending the call, my dad informed us that they were working on getting someone who could tow the camper and they should be there in about an hour. An hour passed...
My pharmacy sent me a text message to tell me I had a prescription ready for pick up. I was directed to respond with “YES” to complete the interaction. But, I had another question for the pharmacist and couldn’t use that SMS text to ask it. I still had to make a phone call. While the basic SMS messaging my pharmacy uses is helpful for them, it falls short of how I, as a customer, want to interact. I want an easy messaging channel I can use to interact with my pharmacist, or any other business, instead of calling...
Hello! My name is Danielle and I’m going to be an intern for Peoplocity this summer. I’m originally from the Cincinnati area but I moved to Indianapolis to attend college. This coming fall, I’ll be starting my senior year at the University of Indianapolis, where I am pursuing a triple major in Marketing, International Business, and Spanish. Last fall, I spent three months living and studying in Spain at the International College of Seville. While there, I was able to work on my Spanish speaking and writing abilities. I also had the opportunity to travel around Europe and Northern Africa...
I’ve flown several different airlines in the past few months. Most recently, I flew Southwest and was reminded how much I enjoy the flying with Southwest compared to other airlines. Southwest Company Culture Southwest has created a culture that is positive, fun and engaging for employees. Employees are happy and interact positively with customers. They are encouraged to be creative in the way they complete otherwise boring, repetitive tasks required by Federal regulations. One of my favorites was the flight attendant who asked, “Did anyone lose this?” Of course, we all looked up. The attendant was smiling and said, “Now...
Peoplocity is a Nominee for 19th Annual TechPoint Mira Awards Honoring ‘The Best of Tech in Indiana’ From a record-breaking 205 applications, independent judging panels selected more than 100 companies, organizations, and individuals to advance as Mira Award nominees. Winners will be announced during a black-tie awards ceremony and gala on Saturday, April 28, at the JW Marriott — Indianapolis INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — TechPoint, the growth initiative for Indiana’s technology ecosystem, has announced the nominees for its 19th annual Mira Awards presented by Angie’s List and Salesforce. The Mira Awards program is a six-month season of events and communications honoring...
Over the last few months, I have become a regular morning customer at a Starbucks near my office. The morning shift has the same core baristas who give me a friendly greeting when I walk in. They also know my usual order and have it ready by the time I get to the register! It’s a delightful experience and makes me feel special! They know me! Basic human psychology shows that when we experience something that makes us feel good, we make positive associations about it. There are several coffee shops around my office I can choose from. But, I...
On a recent trip, our pilot was excited to announce that he got us to our destination 20 minutes early. I was happy to hear that and it seemed my fellow passengers were too! As we sat on the tarmac, our pilot announced that we were so early there was no open gate. We waited awhile longer and then finally parked at a gate where we waited for someone to extend the walkway for us to deplane. In the end, we were actually on the plan longer than we would have been had we landed at on time. This incident...
Do you know if you lost a customer today? Chances are good that you did and don’t even know it. Studies have found that as high as 95% of customers don’t complain even when they have minor complaints about a business. They just don’t come back. What does this mean to your business? First, make it easy for your customers to voice complaints. Many people are uncomfortable bothering managers and frontline employees especially with minor issues. And when they do, follow these 5 golden rules for handling them in a way that makes your customers feel valued and important. After all,...
Many companies provide traditional customer service. They wait until customers have questions or find out about problems before they take action. This is reactive service and can irritate customers, erode trust and destroy brands. Some examples include not informing customers about a delay in shipping or a delayed service call. An extreme example is GM’s delayed recall of 2.6 million vehicles for a defect that they knew existed and had already led to 13 deaths. While, companies often have to be reactive, there are opportunities to provide proactive customer service. Proactive customer service is staying ahead of customer questions or...
