The Customer Service Secret Too Many Tech Companies Forget
Earlier this year, gas explosions tore through my hometown outside of Boston, damaging hundreds of homes. I was at work when it happened. Immediately following the incident, I focused on making sure family and friends were okay and helping those who needed it. But I also knew we had customers in the affected areas. So the next day, I called them up to make sure they were safe and offer any assistance they needed. Reaching out didn’t seem like a big deal — just a natural thing for me to do. But their reaction showed me something. They were shocked that someone from Buildium — let alone the CEO — had picked up the phone just to check up on them.
I’m not sharing this to say, “Oh, look at me,” or point out another great thing about our company. (Well, maybe a little…) I’m sharing this because these customers’ reactions got me thinking:
In a world where an increasing number of companies (especially in tech) don’t even have a customer help phone number on their website, it seems like we’ve lost sight of what’s at the core of great customer experience: the human element.
In some sense, I get it. At a certain scale, human interaction gets really expensive. And I’m no Luddite — I firmly believe in the power of technology to make our lives more efficient and connected. After all, our business is based on building software that automates many property management tasks. But ultimately our technology isn’t aimed at replacing human interaction. Our goal is to free up time for property managers to focus on what matters most — the human relationships they rely on to build thriving businesses.
No doubt other tech companies see themselves in the same light. I don’t think anyone is aiming to phase out human contact. But the growing backlash from frustrated consumers shows that something is broken about the way tech companies approach — or rather, don’t approach — their own users. Every business leader I’ve ever met has listed customer experience as a top priority; yet, so often there’s a disconnect about how to do that in the digital age. Ironically, I think it comes down to putting people back in the mix, although admittedly, this is easier said than done. Here’s the business case for striking a balance between scale and human contact in the digital age — and a couple of tips on how to do it.
Empowering humans, not just bots
Especially in an era where so much of our interaction comes via text or through a screen, putting a human face on a digital product is a singularly powerful differentiator. Take Zappos for instance. The online shoe retailer got this long before many competitors, pioneering “WOW through service” as a core value and encouraging their reps to spend more time with customers on the phone. The company is famous for its attention to detail, like sending baby blankets to customers with crying infants on the phone, and it enjoys a 75% repeat customer rate as a result. All things being equal, customers gravitate to places they feel heard and valued.
In a hands-off sector like cloud software this is so easily forgotten. It’s especially important to realize that if your customers are reaching out, it’s because they truly need something. They wouldn’t take time out of their day otherwise. As a property management platform, we need to remember our customers could be in the middle of battling a sewage leak at one of their properties when they call, or in the middle of back-to-back showings for another property. To outsiders, what we provide might not seem impressive, but to our users we are mission-critical. Their livelihoods depend on our functionality and this forms the core of our customer service strategy.
The challenge is that, on platforms where users number in the thousands (if not millions), it’s all too easy to think in terms of KPIs rather than relationships. To me, this is seriously shortsighted. There are more competing options for people today — in nearly every industry, at every price point — than ever before. Disaffected customers can, and do, jump ship: businesses lose $75 billion a year due to poor customer service. Building long-term relationships, and maximizing lifetime value, can start with something as simple as having a human to pick up the phone.
Taking those relationships to the next level, however, means going the extra mile to anticipate customers’ needs. The Ritz-Carlton for example, famously priority-mails customers phone chargers and other valuables left behind in the room — even before they ask. On a more serious note, my calling to check up on customers after a devastating disaster like those gas explosions not only let them know they were more than a credit card number to us, it saved them the headache of contacting us later when they were already facing a challenging time ahead. If they ever look at competitors, they’ll remember that human touch.
Keeping connected at the top
Key to all this is making sure the lines of communication are open all the way to the top. In my experience, it’s hard to have a great culture of customer service if the leadership team isn’t plugged into the conversation. Without a line of direct feedback from customers to the C-suite, critical company decisions would be made in a silo of spreadsheets and quarterly reports — with no real idea of the impact on the end user. But how exactly do you keep those lines of communication open, as a company grows and scales?
I know I can’t reach out to every one of our thousands of customers. But we do make sure they can get in touch with me. Major company announcements come from my email, and the reply feature isn’t just for show. All replies get a response from me, and there have been many times when I have ended up in a conference room with members of my exec team, on the phone with a customer to dig into their experience further. More often than not, I find people need that pressure valve to share feedback, and knowing that the attention is coming from the executive level goes a long way. Critically, this is a two-way street. This simple approach has helped me get to know many customers whom I now count on for honest feedback which almost inevitably improves our business.
Beyond email, I drop in to regional trade shows and national conferences, as well as customer feedback panels and events at our office. Nothing revolutionary here. But my aim is to talk with enough customers that I know needs and concerns across the gamut — from big property managers to solopreneurs — and can truly put myself in their shoes.
To be clear, all this doesn’t mean we’ve given up on automating aspects of customer service. We still automate routine issues like resetting passwords, and chatbots are a first line of interaction on our website. But nuanced problems, like questions about balancing the books in our accounting software or how to direct residents to the right rental insurance, are for humans — sometimes even me. These efforts might sound quaint, especially for a software company aiming to bring a digital update to a traditional industry. But ultimately, business is relationships. And the relationships with your customers are priceless — without them, there wouldn’t be a business at all.
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