Re: The next big thing.. Why not service for the poor neglected e-customer?!?!

From: Brandi Jasmine <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com>
Date: Tue 13 Feb 2001 17:53:34 -0600

MAX MCKEOWN <max_at_maverickandstrong.com> WROTE:
> How about service innovation?
>
> - Fashion retailers that allows you to chat online with
> clothing advisors, have your orders available in store,
> links from fashion stories to complete purchase sets
> available in customised boxes

Oh Max, how delightfully Utopian! <g>

> And so it goes on: Too little imagination, Too much
> senseless tech and Too much greed and fear.

Bottom line: Costs too much. One of my biggest personal
beefs is with the lack of customer service commitment
in the ISP business. I don't know about in the US but
in Canada, the top 10 have absolutely abdicated
responsibility in this area. It's disgusting. They are
all paying a lot of lip service to it, but all of them
have oversold their high-speed services and it is
common to get busy signals for tech support for hours
on end, and to be left in the "on hold queue" for 90
minutes before you get a level-one tech who barely
knows how to surf himself. And that's on a good day.

There is a definite opportunity here for companies to
fill the gap. One of my newer clients is a company that
is outsourcing technical support. But they are *not* of
the "no-work, low-staff, highly-automated, set it,
forget it and retire to Bermuda early" mind set which
is so prevalent these days. The kinds of businesses you
are talking about are labor and start-up cost
intensive. Look for web customer service to get worse
before it gets better (with a few notable exceptions).

Kind regards,

Brandi Jasmine
Writer, Digital Photographer, Illustrator
http://www.brandijasmine.com/writer/
www.astrology.ca - www.twostar.com





Received on Tue Feb 13 2001 - 17:53:34 CST