E-Mail: Pick Up The Phone
Sometimes things just get out of control with e-mail. I have noticed a disturbing trend (that even I have participated in) where people would rather send an e-mail than pick up the phone.
Today, I was involved in just such a situation. There was an inventory issue I was trying to resolve and I sent an e-mail inquiry to a company to get a status update. What unfolded was an e-mail exchange between 6 people all bouncing back and forth with different details. As the customer in this exchange, what resulted was a bombardment of e-trails that went on for over 2 hours and well over 20 e-mails before the barrage came to an end.
What I have learned from this incident is that when you are serving a customer, it is a much better experience for them if you as the company representative(s) would do all the behind the scenes investigation and then conclude the process with one (and only one) phone call (or one e-mail if you must) to report on the findings. It was a very chaotic experience being tossed around in e-world by 6 people all to get one simple question answered.
I believe we have lost the art of the human-touch. Simply picking up the phone and making that personal contact would leave a much more positive impression than being lassoed in a web of e-mails by a group of people who are face-less, voice-less, e-representatives. When you do this, you leave your customer feeling dazed and confused. Treat your customers like people and not an e-mail, and you will have a customer who feels valued, appreciated, and well taken care of.
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