November 7, 2008
Are all customers scumbags?
Heck no!
BUT, the small minority of chronic refunders, complainers, and time hogs can easily make you think so.
So the point of this post is:
1. Don't manage your own customer service… ever.
2. If you do interact with your customers, realize that for every idiot you have to deal with, there are 99 others that are awesome. Don't let this one scumbag get you down.
3. If someone refunds more that twice, ban them from doing business with you again (modifed per Josh).
4. If someone complains and it's not warranted feedback, then ban them from ever doing business with you again.
5. If someone things you are their new best friend and feels compelled to email you daily, then ban them from ever doing business with you again. You can't afford to let time vampires waste your time.
There you have it…
Woody
Filed under Marketing Strategy
Comments on Are all customers scumbags? »
I would never ban someone simply for one refund. Only multiple refunders. I've looked at the numbers and would have lost a fair amount of repeat business just from cutting someone off at one refund. Sometimes the product is just not going to meet your needs, or the explanation was not good. Why should you be penalized for that? I've gotten refunds from folks and went back to buy again and again from them because of the good refund experience.
Hi Josh,
You make a good point. It all depends on your experience with that person.
Woody
I agree about the banning them for unwarranted complaints/attacks. Sometimes these bozos expect you to text message them back within three minutes of them asking a simple question about a product - and they're not even your customers yet. People are getting very weird in this age of expecting instantaneous attention. What do you do to resolve your customer service issues? At what end are you hiring humans to help out vs. automatic download programs for products, etc.?
Dan