Customer Utopia

I’m writing this from the comfort of my iPhone on a plane again, and as I set out on my latest trip, I didn’t expect to find myself in Customer Utopia. Yet I guess that’s the unexpected beauty of a brand that takes a good, long look and listens to it’s customers.
Thank you, JetBlue.
When [...]

Every Marketers’ Secret Jobs

Hhhmmm, what could they be? CIA agent? Air marshal? F-22 pilot, fire chief, crane operator? No, nothing that involves risking lives, or saving lives, or even putting lives at risk.
However, it does involve putting your brands at risk. If you don’t embrace your secret jobs, that is.
That’s because, if you’re [...]

A Friendly Reminder

I pass it along to you because I just got it myself.  The reminder is to never, ever forget to talk to your customers.
And by “talk to” I mean ask questions and then listen.  Actually little talking involved on your part.
As marketers we spend alot of time talking to our customers.  Sending out materials, calling [...]

Customer Service Impacts Marketing, Part 2

Speaking of the how the blogosphere megaphones the negativity of bad customer service, take a good, long look at this WSJ article on negative brand websites.
Of the companies surveyed, 35% own the domain name for their brand followed by the word “sucks.” They include Wal-Mart Stores, Coca-Cola, Toys”R”Us, Target and Whole Foods Market, according to [...]

Customer Service Impacts Marketing

One bad experience with customer service can tear down everything a marketing campaign has built up. Several bad experiences can turn a campaign into negative marketing.
Just ask AT&T — as Seth Godin mentions in his recent post, the quality of their network, and susbequently their customers’ negative experiences, has a negative effect on their [...]

How NOT to Treat Customers, Part 2, Courtesy of Lloyds TSB

If you took a good, long look at the morals of my recent Excite-related post, then you’ll also find many of the same themes in this article about Lloyds TSB, the fifth-largest banking group in the UK.
It’s amzing how lousy a company treats its customers when a company-centered culture or lack of perspective/judgement is passed [...]

How NOT to Treat Your Customers, Courtesy of Excite

Nowadays, you can tell when a company is headed towards the scrap heap when they start treating their customers like garbage.
Maybe it was always that way, but now it’s ultra-true because competition is just a nano-click away online — especially when your product is a free email account. Yet somehow, the management and IT [...]