You only think you’re communicating
I ordered something recently from an online retailer. I received the confirmation email for the order and the next day an ebullient follow-on announcement from the brand that my packaged “Has Shipped!!” Yes, two exclamation points. Good for them to keep the lines of communication open and to not only keep me abreast of the condition but additionally to set expectations, as the message also conveyed a projected delivery date. In that same spirit, they also included the usual link to follow my shipping on their delivery partner’s website. You know the drill.
In fact, within about a half-hour, I also received an email directly from that carrier with the same tracking number and link, inviting me to view the progress as the package made its way from the East Coast to Denver.
So I clicked through.
One of these days, doing so will go straight to a Google Maps site with a pin or even an avatar of my purchase showing me exactly where it is. Refreshing the view will demonstrate whether it’s on a truck or a plane, based on how far it’s moved since the last refresh. An obsessive would have a ball with that… The future’s gonna be awesome! […]
Sometimes it’s even funny
We joke about how bad CX is sometimes. And with certain things like your online presence, sometimes certain brands miss the mark so badly, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to chuckle. (Not to mention, the more brands get things so terribly wrong, the more work there is for consultants like me!)
For example, there’s a rental car company (it’s a big one…you’ve definitely heard of it) whose password reset procedure is, no kidding, to call an agent on the phone to get it reset. Now, in fairness, the rest of this brand’s online experience is a dumpster fire as well, so frankly it’s par for the course and somewhat expected that Customers wouldn’t be able to do something as simple as reset their passwords on their own. It only makes it funnier (or sadder, if you want to see it that way).
But here’s one that’s even more hilarious/horrific: A while back I was looking up my Social Security account information. I don’t know how frequently you look up your SSA information, but it’s quite a blue-moon incident for me. Needless to say, I had no idea what my login credentials even were. Somewhere along the line I must have ended up on an email notification list for them, and from there, they’ll periodically send me an automated message about my balance or that I can log in and check my projected benefits way in the future when I (if I ever) retire. It was probably one of those emails that prompted me to even think about them.
So, I went to try to log in. Naturally I had no idea what my password is. […]
Why are you online?
It’s astonishing that it’s 2025 and I have to bring this up, but: Why are certain brands even online, anyway?
It’s not new technology…sure, everybody has a website and if you don’t, it kind of looks fishy. Can you think of any major brand that’s not online? (Pause here for a flood of responses and unexpected examples, okay, okay.) I remember when the Internet was new (like, say the late ’90s or so?…okay, technically it wasn’t new then, Mr. DARPA, but it was new as a marketing tool.) and the rush to have a website was accompanied by admonitions that if you’re not there you’re behind the curve. So saying so now is pretty obvious to the point of sounding silly.
But honestly now: Some shouldn’t even be there.
If you’re a brand and your website simply doesn’t work well, take a minute and fix that please.
If you’re an airline and I can’t easily search for flights and browse fares; or if I can’t buy those tickets online with a credit card stored within my account, then you’re failing big time. I don’t know that an airline that doesn’t allow purchasing tickets (with delivery of a mobile boarding pass as well) even exists anymore. And if it does, I don’t think I’d want to get on their planes. But what about that search mechanism? What about simply being able to see where you fly? Can I look at your aircraft seat maps? Can I check the balance of my frequent flier miles? Sure, I may prefer to speak with an agent when I book or look for flight choices, but I should also be able to get that all done online if I choose.
If you’re a product (direct-to-consumer or via retail partners) manufacturer, can I see pictures of your wares? Can I compare last year’s model to what’s improved or changed this year? Can I find (if it’s part of your business model) local retailers where I can buy or at least look at your product in person? Is there a price list? Sizing? A place to lodge a complaint about the quality or experience I’ve had with a purchase? Again, I may prefer to have a phone number to call (oh, and is that prominently displayed?) or a brick-and-mortar building to visit, but if I can’t do these things online, why are you online? […]
Business Development and BizDev
Independent consultants have it sort of tough. Don’t cry for us; the liberties we enjoy make it pretty awesome as well. But for sure the risk and uncertainty is balanced out (or sometimes, it’s not!) by the freedom to choose our hours and our clients…the work we do and don’t do. It’s certainly a lifestyle and you have to want to live this way to do this sort of work. There’s nothing wrong at all with the more corporate way of living (and I’ve done that plenty as well). It’s simply a matter of choosing what’s the right fit for you and what makes you happy. It’s a different type of work, and how you do it is not the same as when you’re an employee.
One of the things we independents do a lot is network. I’ve been, at different times, a member of several networking groups—some paid, some free; some very structured, some more ad-hoc. I’ve also done plenty of freelance networking by simply finding myself in places where other businesspeople congregate. I’m always on the lookout for new people to meet and new business experiences. I wrote a while back about how I’m a ‘greedy’ networker: I look for people with talents and experience my clients and prospective clients may need, that way I can help beyond my own skills.
It’s important to understand what others are trying to get out of the practice of networking. Once I was part of a network that would randomly match members up for one-on-one meetings; we’d go into each call without knowing the other participant. It was helpful at the beginning to establish what we were each trying to accomplish. One time the other guy simply said, “I’m just here to practice my pitch. Do you mind if we do that?” He wasn’t trying to sell to me (after all, he had no idea if I was a proper client for his services anyway); he just wanted practice. And here’s where we got to two real purposes of networking: biz dev, and business development.
Surely those two seem the same, but here’s where they differ: […]
Figure it out
I wrote a while back about a pet-peeve of mine when I grocery shop: Not enough small carts.
Now, that’s clearly a small thing (literally!) to get too overworked about. First World Problems, and all that. At the risk of delving further into Angry-Old-Man-Shaking-His-Fist-At-The-Clouds territory, let me gripe again about shopping carts.
As I’d mentioned, ours is a somewhat urban neighborhood. Now, we’re not “downtown” or in any sort of high-rise area…It’s one of those in-between sort of place where there are a mix of houses and businesses; sidewalks and alleys. But it’s definitely in the city, and naturally we have our share of vagrancy issues.
So, our local grocers have cart issues of their own: Homeless folks will often wander off with them. Now, there’s a mechanism they’ve installed that locks a wheel if the cart is taken beyond the parking lot. It’s a somewhat expensive solution the problem, and seemingly not totally effective, given the number of carts one can see abandoned within a few blocks of the store when the absconder finally gets frustrated with the impediment.
But not only is it not all that effective (although I’m sure there’s a study on it…perhaps it’s effective enough to justify its cost), it’s also a frustration for their Customers. I can’t tell you how often I get one of these carts with that one wheel locked inside the store because that mechanism is malfunctioning. Sometimes it’s clear right away and you can abandon it right there at the front of the store. In fact, usually if there’s a cart or two not stacked in with the rest of them, but rather just out in the middle of that space, often that’s why: Someone else abandoned it right away. But sometimes it doesn’t go haywire until you’re already on your way and you either have to get another cart from the front of the store and swap all your so-far picked items into the new one, or somehow try to drag ¼ of the cart the rest of the way through your visit.
My previous article, linked above, simply asks why certain brands haven’t figured out some of the inconveniences their Customers have. Now, here’s an admonition: They should figure it out. […]
On the other hand, maybe AI will NOT kill CX
I wrote the other day about what I thought was a conclusion drawn about the impact of automation and AI and all that stuff on CX, from a conversation I’d had with a colleague. Briefly, I noticed that, absent the incentive of increased costs (tied to increased Customer interactions, which, with automation would now not need costly humans to handle), the new technology would actually decrease CX in the long run because brands would be less driven to address the root causes of issues. Why spend the time, money, and resources, after all, if we’ve got robots to take care of all those messy cleanups, right?
Then I slept on it.
The next day I wrote back to my colleague and said, Wait a second… Not so fast. […]
