A Story of a Lost Package

Once upon a time, a customer placed an order online and eagerly awaited its arrival. However, much to their disappointment and concern, the online tracking system noted that the package was stuck in transit. For weeks. So, the customer reached out to the company and easily found an area of the website to report the delay. Within minutes, someone at the business was able to verify that the package was indeed stuck in transit and placed another order on the customer’s behalf. The employee then sent the customer a personalized email to inform them of the new order number and shipment details. All within the span of an hour.

Good customer experience does not need to take a long time, nor does it need to take a lot of effort. This is a story about good internal systems (that quickly let the employee confirm that the original shipment was lost), good internal processes (that gave the employee the power to send the customer a new order rather than having to check with multiple levels of management), and good communication procedures (that expected the employee to personally reach out to the customer to keep them informed).

Make it easy for employees to serve customers. Make it easy for customers to adore your organization. Life is complicated, customer service does not need to be.