Why Didn’t You Just Tell Me? Great Customer Service and Computer Passcodes

Have you noticed that computer passcodes are getting longer and more complex lately?  Capital- and lower-case letters, numbers, and even symbols are a frequent requirement now.  I understand that it’s done in an effort to ensure privacy and protect individuals from identity theft, but honestly, the complexity of the passwords are making it so it’s difficult for me to remember who I am.  In addition, I probably have 20 – 30 sites I need passcodes for, making it nearly impossible for me to remember them.

From a customer service perspective, this can be a nightmare, because when clients have difficulty accessing accounts, a layer of annoyance is added to the transaction, making their first experience an unpleasant one.  Although I do not have experience with privacy and security, may I suggest that there may be a few things that can be done from a client experience perspective, however, to help mitigate a clients’ poor experience. 

• Tell me upfront if you will require my user name to be my e-mail address.  It will save us both a step in having to enter information twice.
• Similarly, tell me upfront if you will require my passcode to be at least 8 digits, alphanumeric lower case and caps and include a symbol.  It’s not intuitive, and it’s not all that fun to enter my information once, let alone twice.  Just tell me. 
• Ask me security questions, that will enable me to gain access to my password on that same screen (e-mailing me my passcode just requires me to have to login to my e-mail account) – and don’t assign me a new password!  Otherwise we’ll be back at square one the next time I need to access my account. 
• Remember me – that box is my favorite!  I like the warning they put there as well – don’t click this box if you’re at a public computer. 

Unfortunately the cyber-world we live in today, requires diligence to protect individuals’ identity.  In an effort to protect the client, I’m just suggesting we don’t forget the client.