Customer Service in a WIIFM World

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Bruce Temkin released a paper in 2008 called The 6 Laws of Customer Experience. Law #2 said:

People are instinctively self-centered.

We have all been told about the “radio station” WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? So it should come as no surprise that your customer’s first thoughts are not about your product but about how they felt while dealing with your company. Thus giving rise to the “customer experience” and “voice of the customer” programs.

The thing is, even though people have definite opinions about how they were treated it can be like pulling teeth to get them to tell you about it. At least directly.

On Facebook and Twitter, sure….but not directly to you. And really, the percentage of people who even go to the trouble of putting their reactions out there on the social media is pretty low. Let’s face it, it takes effort to walk over to the computer, log on, and write even 140 characters unless we are extremely motivated. At which point your business has been thrown out the window…to late for fixing anything.

Just like you need to make it as simple as possible for customers to find you, shop your company, and buy from you, it has to be just as simple or even more so to get them to give you feedback.

“How?” you say.

It depends. I know, I hate that answer too because it usually means more work for me. But in this case, the work is an investment. Just like you determined what channel your customers preferred to use to interact with your company, you need to find the ways your customers are most comfortable telling you what it is really like to be your customer.

There will always be a few who are willing to tell you to your face but most of us would rather be polite, say something non-committal, and scoot out the door. Same for the phone. Many places have a website they direct people to where they can answer “How are we doing?” and there have always been email surveys.

But we’re dealing with WIIFM here. This means customers don’t care that what they tell you can help “improve our service to you”. That’s too nebulous and far away. They need an incentive.

Many incentives are freebies or coupons for one thing or another. Some are contests: “Fill out our survey for a chance to tin this iPad!”. But your customers may not need or want those things.

You know what can get people going? Some of the craziest things that won’t cost you a cent.

  • Many people will be happy to get a badge for their facebook page for filling out your survey.
  • Others would love being tagged as an expert in your online community.
  • Find a way for them to earn complimentary titles and who knows how much you can get from them.

An example is HubSpot. They have a very active online community and probably people would participate regardless. But HubSpot keeps track of how many times you answer questions or interact and gives you a successively higher title. You might start as a HubSpotter Newbie but then go on up through HubSpot Guru.

You know your customers, or you should. Think about what makes them react and offer them an incentive geared toward making that reaction. If the first thing doesn’t work, tweak it and try again. Don’t just forget about it.

It’s your business, your company. This is a WIIFM for you and what’s in it for you is a successful organization. So get out there and get feedback and give something in the process.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Jody Pellerin
Jody Pellerin is the Director of Marketing for PhaseWare, Inc. a provider of customer service and support software. PhaseWare helps companies optimize customer service and support with powerful, affordable solutions for incident management, knowledge management, SLA management, and more. Pellerin has authored several white papers and case studies about customer service and support practices including using live chat, optimizing multichannel support, and a guide for on-premise versus on-demand software.

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