Customer Service is Everything

Senior Editor of CIO magazine, Megan Santosus writes a telling article about customer service versus self service. The bottom line is that self service is not always good customer service. Self service options have to be clear, thoroughly tested and have assistance available regardless of how easy they purport to be to use.

Additionally, the article clearly points out that adding self service options does not always add up to good customer service. In the grocery store, you don't want someone hanging over your shoulder telling you to buy 2% milk instead of whole milk. However, if you don't know where the stewed tomatos are, then you want someone there to help you find them. In other types of stores and entities, hands on customer service is even more important. Customers often want to find what they need, buy it and get out of the store. Time is usually a factor. Consultants get hired to help with a project that the customer does not have the time or expertise to take on. Look carefully at self service solutions before you implement them.

You can have the best, most unique products and services in the world, but it won't matter if your customer service is lousy. Alternatively, you can have the worst products, but if you have excellent customer service, people will use them.