Have you ever tried to get help from a real human at Google, Comcast, or — heaven forbid — Facebook? Don’t bother. You’ll likely get a bot, or worse.
What happened to customer service?
Believe it or not, there was a time in the not too distant past when companies actually prided themselves on face-to-face customer service. I know, I’ve worked at a couple.
I assembled this list two decades ago for a local bank I was fortunate to be working for. When I read it now, it seems a bit naive, self-righteous, and long-winded, but that’s how I was 20 years ago.
This list has nothing to do with web design specifically. It would likely apply to just about any business that serves people. And most do at some point. For this article, I haven’t changed a word from the original — but probably should have.
Also, I should mention that I can’t take credit for originating all of these maxims, only arranging them in this particular order.
20 commandments of customer service
01. Necessary and sufficient
There is only one thing that is both necessary and sufficient for a successful business: Customers.
02. Treat each other better
The better we treat the people we work with, the better we’ll treat our customers. We will never treat our customers better than we treat each other.
03. Company problems
Never assign blame to a part of the company for a problem the company created.
04. Secret policies
Customers should never be inconvenienced because of company policies that are known only to employees, and do not become known to customers until they are used against them.
05. Helping customers
If you’re not helping customers, then you better be helping someone who is helping customers.
06. Customer complaints
Customers should never be required to restate their request or complaint to several employees before having it resolved.
07. How we feel
How we feel about our company will eventually become how our customers feel about us.
08. Your primary job
The primary job of every person in this company is to make it easier for the customer to do business with us. Our primary job is not to make things easier for ourselves.
09. Saying yes
Saying “No” is the easy way out. We should always try to find a way to say “Yes.”
10. Bad service
Most customers will not return bad service with bad behavior. They just never come back.
Zappos.com
“What we find is that over time every customer calls our call center at least once in their customer lifetime. We want to make sure that whenever that call does happen, they experience the best customer service ever. That is why when you call you don’t have to go through 14 different phone trees.”
— Tony Hsieh (1973–2020) / Founder
11. Lifetime value
When we lose a customer for a negative reason, we’re not losing just one customer. We’re losing every customer that person may have referred. Never underestimate the lifetime value of a customer.
12. Satisfied customers
Satisfying customers isn’t enough. We have to exceed their expectations. A “satisfied” customer is six times more likely to leave for a competitor than a “very satisfied” customer.
13. The marketing department
Marketing is not a “department.” It is absolutely anything and everything we do to sell our company. And that means all of us, all the time.
14. A service business
We are in a service business. Service is about people and relationships, not tasks and transactions.
15. Two-time customers
The most important piece of business you get from a customer is not the first, it’s the second. A two-time customer is twice as likely to come back as a first-time customer.
16. Neglect
Impatience thrives on ignorance. It is the feeling of being neglected that creates dissatisfaction, not the mere fact of delay. Always acknowledge your customers.
17. Get involved
The more we get involved with our customers, the more they will get involved with us.
18. Awareness
Advertising creates awareness, but does not sell products. People do.
19. Better service
Never tell a customer we have “better service” unless you’re willing to prove it.
20. Work vs Job
Never allow your work to interfere with your job (#8).
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Google indexes a bazillion new web pages every single day. Most will never receive a human visitor. Why? Because most websites are badly designed and poorly written. Don’t let this happen to you. We can help.
