Re:37signals sent me a gift for pwning their leaderboard
by briandear on Saturday September 24, 2011 @12:24AM
(#3032503)
I love the 37signals guys, the Pragmatic Programming guys as well as the Pivotal Tracker folks and the guys at Hashrocket. They really seem to put that Rework stuff into practice. Contrast those people to the Facebook-type companies that seem to essentially ignore individuals in favor of scale.
It IS possible for companies both large and small to provide some personal touches to their service and really make their users feel special. It pays dividends. The cost of those beer glasses and shipping was minimal, but the value added to their brand was incalculable. The best part is that they practice customer service like that quietly -- they aren't always talking about how great they are simply as a marketing ploy -- they quietly do great things.
For example, I am based in Shanghai and last weekend they had a server issue that affected some of my users' Basecamp access here in China (although for some reason my access had no issues) -- I emailed them about it and they responded back within a few hours with specific fixes they did in response to my general problem. They didn't just BS me and say that everything was now fine -- they actually took action. By the time I received their response, the problem was fixed and my users were back to full-speed access.
I've had similar good fortune with Andy Hunt and his folks at Pragmatic -- personal responses, sincere actions and quality followup. It's a simple formula that should be taught in business schools because so many companies seem to ignore that a single customer is the fundamental unit of your success (or failure.)
I have a little psychology app we developed and it's amazing how surprised users are when you take the time to email them back and respond to their suggestions, complaints or compliments directly. Just from my limited experience with my app users, it would appear that very few companies take a personalized, sincere interest in their users. Nearly every time I've responded to users emails (always within 8 hours, usually within 1,) I get a baffled response expressing appreciation. Excerpt: "Wow! Thanks so much for getting back to me about [my suggestions.] I never expected a response at all, let alone such a nice email. I appreciate it that you'll be incorporating [some my feature requests] into [the app] so quickly."
I'm not trying to blow my own horn, but merely illustrate that users are starved of personal respect and a sincere interest in them. Users should expect personal respect and thanks; it shouldn't come as a surprise! 37signals and some of the aforementioned companies (as well as Zappos et al,) are doing it right. Users deserve the best efforts of companies. After all, we serve the user -- not the other way around!
It IS possible for companies both large and small to provide some personal touches to their service and really make their users feel special. It pays dividends. The cost of those beer glasses and shipping was minimal, but the value added to their brand was incalculable. The best part is that they practice customer service like that quietly -- they aren't always talking about how great they are simply as a marketing ploy -- they quietly do great things.
For example, I am based in Shanghai and last weekend they had a server issue that affected some of my users' Basecamp access here in China (although for some reason my access had no issues) -- I emailed them about it and they responded back within a few hours with specific fixes they did in response to my general problem. They didn't just BS me and say that everything was now fine -- they actually took action. By the time I received their response, the problem was fixed and my users were back to full-speed access.
I've had similar good fortune with Andy Hunt and his folks at Pragmatic -- personal responses, sincere actions and quality followup. It's a simple formula that should be taught in business schools because so many companies seem to ignore that a single customer is the fundamental unit of your success (or failure.)
I have a little psychology app we developed and it's amazing how surprised users are when you take the time to email them back and respond to their suggestions, complaints or compliments directly. Just from my limited experience with my app users, it would appear that very few companies take a personalized, sincere interest in their users. Nearly every time I've responded to users emails (always within 8 hours, usually within 1,) I get a baffled response expressing appreciation. Excerpt: "Wow! Thanks so much for getting back to me about [my suggestions.] I never expected a response at all, let alone such a nice email. I appreciate it that you'll be incorporating [some my feature requests] into [the app] so quickly."
I'm not trying to blow my own horn, but merely illustrate that users are starved of personal respect and a sincere interest in them. Users should expect personal respect and thanks; it shouldn't come as a surprise! 37signals and some of the aforementioned companies (as well as Zappos et al,) are doing it right. Users deserve the best efforts of companies. After all, we serve the user -- not the other way around!