First, let me say that overall, I have been very satisfied with my BMW experience over the last two years. I don't want this article to be taken as a BMW bashing, I just want to use my experience as a learning one so that it can be used to improve online experiences that we build for our customers.
How It All Started
A couple of weeks ago my car was hit while parked in my driveway. So the cause that sparked this story is obviously one of high frustration for me. I worked with the insurance company to make sure I didn't have to pay for anything which was good, but it's still a hassle to have to go through the process of claims and then getting your car repaired. Knowing that my mind state was that of irritation from the beginning is important for this story.
The Offline Experience
After I dropped my car off to get repaired, I realized that I had left a few things in the trunk that I was going to need this week. I called the service manager who I had dealt with and left him a voicemail to call me back as soon as possible so that I could swing back and pick up my stuff. He called 8 hours later at 7 pm. Clearly, this was too late for me to get back to the dealership and he was calling just before he left for the night. But now he knows that I'll be coming by the next day to retrieve my things.
I arrived at the dealership around 11:30 AM and needed to be somewhere five minutes away at 11:45 AM. I figured that picking something up from the trunk of my car could only take a few minutes...I didn't take into account the unforeseeable speed bumps I'd run in to.
Even though it only took a total of about thirty minutes, it was over a span of two visits back to the dealership and many "gates" to go through.
When I came in the first time, the front desk couldn't contact the service manager. He wasn't in his office or answering his cell phone. I had to go downstairs to the service center myself where the secretary called down to the shop to bring up my car. I waited about ten minutes in the lot for them to pull up and it turns out they called the wrong tag number in and the car that they brought to me wasn't mine. At this point, I needed to get to my appointment so I couldn't wait around another ten minutes. I came back an hour and a half later and went through the same steps again: the front desk couldn't find him, walk down to the service center, secretary looks up my tag number...then I see the service manager walking through the garage and the secretary is able to catch up with him. She finds out that he had done me a favor the night before and put my things in his office and I could just run up with her and grab them.
None of these hurdles in themselves are significant problems, and ultimately didn't take too long to accomplish what I had set out for. But when combined they lead to a frustrating pile of speed bumps for me, the customer.
How Does This Experience Translate Online?
Visitor Experience
Going through the front desk, walking to his empty office, walking to the service area, calling the body shop, waiting for the wrong car, these are all similar to needing to click through several pages to achieve a desired action. Although clicking "next" isn't a daunting task, not knowing how long it will take to get through to the end, or worse - taking longer than expected and just the number of actions that need to be taken lead to dissatisfaction. If you aren't giving your visitors a clear path to completion, you will lose them before they even become a customer. If someone visits your website and wants to make a purchase, it should be simple and streamlined for them. One page or a set (of only a few pages) that clearly communicate that you are on page one of three, etc., this way the visitor has realistic expectations and simple steps to take.
Know Your Customer
Depending on your service, you should be aware of your visitor's state of mind. Being an auto body repair shop, it's most likely that your customers are unhappy about something that happened to their car. This requires a little extra care taken on accommodating your customer so they are satisfied and remain a customer. If you are a service business or sell products that fix problems (directly, not in the sense that all products and services solve a problem), you need to make a shortened path for your customer to get in touch with you or make their purchase, in effect, fix their problem. If you're a plumber and someone's pipes burst, they aren't going to want to fill out a form of contact information, problems and history of plumbing repairs. They need to call you right now! Visitors on your business's website want to be your customers, make it easy for them to do so.
Don't Set Yourself Up To Disappoint
By being so accommodating 90% of the time and setting the bar high, BMW lead me, the customer, to disappointment by not following through 100% of the time. Although I'm usually impressed with their above and beyond service center lounge and high quality work, leaving me with this most recent poor experience could lead to me going to another dealership in the fall when I'm ready for a new car. Keep things simple for your customers, if you want to be viewed as highly accommodating, then make the commitment to do so all the time. Otherwise, it could be that one slip up on a product purchase page that makes them click the back button and order from someone else and becoming someone else's repeat business.
At Tresnic Media, we preach to our clients that communication is our top priority. It is a very rare occasion for us to not get back to a customer within one business day. If I were to bring in customers under that philosophy and then not follow through, they'd quickly change their feelings towards me as a liar and look for someone who had quicker response time. Even if at the beginning they didn't consider 24 hours a long response time, I set the bar for myself and my company and in turn set their expectations higher.
How Do You Accommodate Your Customers Through Your Website?
What actions do you take to make sure your customers are happy with their online experience with you? Have you learned any lessons off line that have translated into online improvements?