Providing Service and Value Online
I’ve got two great sources of wisdom sitting on my desk right now. First, a handout from Ron Wolfson from a conference a year or two ago, and a new blog post by Chris Brogan. Both are about providing service for members and customers, and both draw from examples of companies that have built their brand around SERVICE. In this day and age when time and attention are the limiting factors for engagement and participation, providing high quality, convenient and efficient service is paramount.
At this time of year when we’re walking into synagogues along with thousands of others, we pay attention to signage, accessibility of prayer books, ease of movement. We take advantage of the face to face experience by having ushers who welcome and guide us to open seats. But the rest of year is no different.
As the Synagogue 3000 handout reminds us, great experiences build great brands. A few examples:
- Nordstrom – Everyone deserves personal attention (personal note, having grown up in Seattle — they also take anything back, no questions asked. My family ALWAYS shopped there, and still does)
- Borders Books – Find the book
- Home Dept – There’s no such thing as a silly question
Chris Brogan applies this same concept to online service:
- Zappos had to convince thousands and thousands of customers that ordering shoes on the web was easy, and that their customer service policies were top shelf. They made a near-billion dollar correct bet on how they competed.
- Craigslist revenues for 2009 were estimated to top $100 million dollars, and Craig Newmark built the company around the premise that excellent customer service and community involvement were the key.
The bottom line: to compete, BE HELPFUL. This doesn’t mean market your events in 10 different places, it means add value to people’s lives before you ask them to buy, attend or commit. Can you help someone have a faster or easier or more convenient experience? Can you help them solve a problem they didn’t know they had? Can you empower someone to do more or better for themselves and others?
Many of us agree with this sentiment, only to find our paths to being friendly blocked by fiscal and other restraints. When the bottom line dictates, friendliness and convenience, sadly, often goes out the window. Especially in smaller congregations, where the staff is already too few, too stretched, etc. there is a serious challenge to providing congregants and potential congregants with such a high level of good customer service.
Sadly, I can think of any number of situations in which I or others attempted to implement things that would make things easier for those we serve, only to be thwarted by lack of resources to do so. Yes, we as individuals can and should to all we can to present a helpful, friendly face, but we need the support of the whole community to make that more than just a facade. Otherwise, we’re just laying the foundation for future disappointment of those we have aided.
Adrian – thanks for your comment. I hear what you’re saying, and your observations are shared by many, I’m sure. One way to think about the ideas contained in this post is to step back and question our assumptions about what’s meaningful and valuable for our members. Oftentimes I see organizations spending precious dollars and time in areas that may not make a real difference to members, only to tell me they can’t keep their web site calendar up to date, and many members are frustrated or showing up at the wrong place and time because the info posted was from 2008.
One of the great opportunities with today’s technology is to provide great value with relative ease. Our synagogue recently switched from paper registration forms for the school to a Google form that writes to a Google spreadsheet. It was so much more convenient for parents, they got more registrations on time, and saved dozens of hours of staff time to enter in the data. Just a simple example of a win-win situation, which required only initiative and a bit of learning curve time from the director.
I’d love to hear other examples of “low hanging fruit” from readers. And Adrian, I’m curious where you hit road blocks, and if we can help you in any way?