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Since more often than not the companies that are supposed to serve us don't, it would be very easy for this blog to degenerate into a critical whinge.
To break way from that I want to celebrate in this post a start-up company in the US (well Canada actually) who is potentially turning a typical consumer whinge into an opportunity.
Hands up everyone who enjoys dealing with an IVR (Integrated Voice Response) System in the companies we contact. You know, the phone systems all big businesses hide behind - "to be marginally driven mad, press 1"; "to be almost pushed to the limit, press 2"; "if you didn't think it could be worse, press 3 and be introduced to an entirely new set of maddening sub-menus". I know no one is holding up their hand because we all hate IVRs, but businesses all use them because they 'streamline the customer handling process' (in other words they save money).
www.fonolo.com is a new business which, rather than joining the rest of us to whinge about it, is trying to turn this frustration into a business opportunity. They have built a 'spider' which phones the IVRs and builds a database of their menu structures (in much the same way a web search engine 'spider' builds a search index), which they visually display for you on the web. You can have a look at the menu structure and dive straight into where you want to be. They call it 'deep dialling'. You press the 'call' button at the point you want; fonolo goes through the hassle of calling the company and traversing the IVR structure and then they call you to put you through when they have the customer service agent you need.
What a cracker of an idea!
You can even 'bookmark' frequently used 'deep dial' locations AND you can record and store the calls so you have a record if, for example, you are involved in a billing dispute with the company concerned.
Where was this service when I was having my run-in with my ISP telco provider???!!
I really hope this works for the team behind fonolo - it should. They have spotted an almost universal consumer frustration; knowing that companies are unlikely themselves to respond to these frustrations, instead of waiting around for that to happen, they have seen an opportunity and created a solution.
The most powerful new businesses in my view are those that overcome an evident customer frustration.
I'll be watching this one with interest.
And whilst I am handing out plaudits, let's take our hats off also to our own AAMI who seem to have recognised that we all hate IVRs and have come up with their own solution - get rid of it. As far as I can tell every phone call to AAMI is answered by a real person who solicitously asks how they can direct your call. Yay! That is a point of difference upon which to build a great customer-centric insurance company.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
No Added Value
I went to the movies last night (The Dark Knight is way too dark for me by the way).
A bottle of water and a choc top to enjoy in the cinema cost me about a gazillion dollars from the snacks counter in the foyer.
Throughout the movie I was seriously disturbed by the crinkling, crunching and crackling of packets of food and the eaters who munched through their contents.
Why do we pay four times as much for a bottle of water or a packet of chips or an ice cream in a cinema? Is it just because we are a captive audience? (From a practical point of view it is because I so frequently forget to buy something at a normal store on the way to the cinema - curses!).
I could understand paying more if the cinemas had some sort of value adding proposition, for example, cinema food with noiseless packaging which doesn't crinkle and disturb other patrons. But they don't - the food is the same as you can buy outside the cinema. I could understand it if the business model in cinemas is one where you don't pay for the tickets but instead pay through the nose for the food (and maybe this is the model - maybe cinema tickets should be $30 each if we didn't pay ridiculous prices for food and drink - but if so they aren't very good at communicating this to we poor customers) - but this doesn't seem to be the case.
So, the only conclusion to draw seems to be that cinemas are taking the piss and gouging us. Why-oh-why would they do this? Because they can, and because we all mutely put up with it.
More power to them! But what a missed opportunity to add value and build loyal customers instead of annoyed ones.
A bottle of water and a choc top to enjoy in the cinema cost me about a gazillion dollars from the snacks counter in the foyer.
Throughout the movie I was seriously disturbed by the crinkling, crunching and crackling of packets of food and the eaters who munched through their contents.
Why do we pay four times as much for a bottle of water or a packet of chips or an ice cream in a cinema? Is it just because we are a captive audience? (From a practical point of view it is because I so frequently forget to buy something at a normal store on the way to the cinema - curses!).
I could understand paying more if the cinemas had some sort of value adding proposition, for example, cinema food with noiseless packaging which doesn't crinkle and disturb other patrons. But they don't - the food is the same as you can buy outside the cinema. I could understand it if the business model in cinemas is one where you don't pay for the tickets but instead pay through the nose for the food (and maybe this is the model - maybe cinema tickets should be $30 each if we didn't pay ridiculous prices for food and drink - but if so they aren't very good at communicating this to we poor customers) - but this doesn't seem to be the case.
So, the only conclusion to draw seems to be that cinemas are taking the piss and gouging us. Why-oh-why would they do this? Because they can, and because we all mutely put up with it.
More power to them! But what a missed opportunity to add value and build loyal customers instead of annoyed ones.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
A Green Nightmare - Clinging to the Past
Yesterday I got stuck on the way back home behind a flat bed truck loaded with Telephone Books being delivered door-to-door.
For heaven's sake, this is 2008!
Almost everyone has access to the web (68% of households now have broadband access in Australia) or a GPRS or 3G mobile phone. Finding a listed telephone number doesn't require wading through a mountainous book.
Why do they insist on dumping a useless book on our doorsteps. In my case, as soon as it arrives I strip the (non-recyclable) plastic wrap from it and consign the books straight to the recycling bin - but what a waste!!
Assuming the powers that be are not completely stupid or have their heads buried in the sand, I imagine there must be some obscure legislation that mandates every household has to have a free white pages phone directory delivered to their doorstep.
Why can't they simply make it opt-in and save themselves and the community many $ and generate some green kudos at the same time?
The situation is worse in the case of the Yellow Pages. I imagine all that keeps these books being delivered to our doors is the huge commercial vested interest Sensis (Telstra) has in keeping alive the myth that it is a tremendous advertising medium.
I haven't opened a Yellow Pages book in many, many years. Why would I when I can search for it all on the web?
I accept some people may still find the Yellow Pages useful and they too could opt-in to receive one. This though would expose the real (and diminishing) underlying economic value of the Sensis advertising franchise and so will presumably never happen.
For heaven's sake, this is 2008!
Almost everyone has access to the web (68% of households now have broadband access in Australia) or a GPRS or 3G mobile phone. Finding a listed telephone number doesn't require wading through a mountainous book.
Why do they insist on dumping a useless book on our doorsteps. In my case, as soon as it arrives I strip the (non-recyclable) plastic wrap from it and consign the books straight to the recycling bin - but what a waste!!
Assuming the powers that be are not completely stupid or have their heads buried in the sand, I imagine there must be some obscure legislation that mandates every household has to have a free white pages phone directory delivered to their doorstep.
Why can't they simply make it opt-in and save themselves and the community many $ and generate some green kudos at the same time?
The situation is worse in the case of the Yellow Pages. I imagine all that keeps these books being delivered to our doors is the huge commercial vested interest Sensis (Telstra) has in keeping alive the myth that it is a tremendous advertising medium.
I haven't opened a Yellow Pages book in many, many years. Why would I when I can search for it all on the web?
I accept some people may still find the Yellow Pages useful and they too could opt-in to receive one. This though would expose the real (and diminishing) underlying economic value of the Sensis advertising franchise and so will presumably never happen.
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