Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Categorized | Customer Service, Multichannel Marketing
Perfecting Service… Maybe
Posted by Sundeep Kapur | Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Reagan and I are members of a hotel chain’s loyalty program; we receive a number of different communiqués from them – both print and email. The print communiqués are a little passé but their email is spectacular. For instance, if you sign up to reserve a hotel room, they target you with a confirmation email including weather information, hotel directions and confirmation of any special requests. From what we have seen, the property also receives a similar communiqué alerting the hotel. A couple of days before our trip – we receive a reminder email and then after the stay we receive our bill via email. This last email solicits our opinion of the property and any suggestions; life is good or so it seems…
A little background on our relationship with this chain; I am a Level I, having achieved more than 70 nights. Reagan just missed the top level by 10 nights, and is a Level II (even though she achieved this status in less than seven months).
For the sake of convenience I have been making the last few reservations. We recently checked into an Atlanta property – two reservations under my name. During check in they singled me out as the Level I, thanked me and gave me a room on the Concierge Floor (15th), Reagan was banished to the 3rd floor. What were these guys thinking? Is this basic training where you have to put in your sweat and tears before you reach the top level?
Of course, I called their corporate office and spoke to customer service. Every call to them has been very interesting – they send you great follow-up emails, all automated and soliciting your opinions. Unfortunately, no one pays attention to these responses or simply don't care. While they expect you to read their communiqués, are they supposed to ignore yours?
A good lesson for email marketers; take your program and make sure you train the touch points. Are they truly paying attention to your program, and more importantly are they even connecting with your best customers. Anonymity in the real world is only going to hurt your online world. Take a page from Paul Fredrick Menstyle – they actually care about every note sent back, they copy a whole group of people on the feedback received so they can ensure closure on all inbound communiqués. Good work guys, I’m wearing a Paul Fredrick suit today!
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3 Responses to “Perfecting Service… Maybe”
January 30, 2008 8:16:00 PM EST
Great article - good service goes a great way. How do I get my reservations manager to pay attention to the customer feedback?
January 30, 2008 9:58:00 PM EST
To get people who don't think they 'need' to be in the know - just get some real anecodatal feedback from your customers. Have your customers talk / write in to the 'reservations' manager. Also, offer to put out alerts on their behalf. Think about including staff names in your emails.
January 31, 2008 9:27:00 AM EST
When we get feedback negative and positive - we make it available to our entire team. People do complain when there are problems, but when they praise our reps - we highlight the praise and compliment the rep. This keeps everyone involved and excited. Also, by keeping our entire team in the know regarding the email program - it makes people pay attention not only to the importance of the program, but also the efficiency of email communications. If you need to talk more, have Sundeep give you my contact information.
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