How many CX mistakes can a national retail company make? Are
you making these same mistakes?
I recently had an experience with Kohl’s that is a classic
case of how to lose customers. An item I wanted to purchase was on sale. Since
I would get an extra 15% off if I opened a Kohl’s credit card, I decided to
apply. And since it was Saturday afternoon I chose to apply online rather than
in the busy store.
1. Make your customers play “What’s the format?”
The first issue began with the UI. I received an error when
submitting the page with my personal data. The birthdate field was highlighted
as in error, even though it was in standard date format: mm/dd/yyyy. I tried
writing out the date. Error. I finally tried dashes, which was accepted. Your
UI should be self-explanatory. It does not take much to add examples.
Instead of completing my application online, I received a
message to call customer service. No reason was given.
2. Don’t empower your customer service.
My call to customer service was as frustrating as filling
out the online application. I spoke with David, who although very polite, could
tell me nothing except that my application was in the queue for support, and
support would call me within two business days.
Why was it put in the queue? “I don’t know, I can’t access
your application.”
When I explained my problem: “I’m sorry, I can’t access your
application.”
Do you realize you will lose a sale? “I’m sorry, I can’t
access your application.”
I spoke with the supervisor Al. Same story, different voice.
The sale – and my loyalty – could have been secured here
with one of the following solutions:
- Support was available to solve the issue
- Customer service had authority to complete the application process
- Customer service issued a rain check at the sale price
- Customer service called the store and hold the item, and included the extra 15% off
3. Work on store time, not customer time
Support called within the two day period, but I was at work
and could not answer. They did not leave a message. Later, I found out that it
was recorded as a “disconnected call.” What? You know it’s the right number and
you don’t call back and leave a message?
The email exchange with Kohl’s Twitter support was also
frustrating. Of course, I had to rehash everything from the beginning. The
contact asked questions that I had already answered. When she finally found out
all the information, she referred me back to customer service. She did not
specify the department I needed to talk to, or give me an extension.
I finally got to the application department only to be told
that someone will contact me. Wait – You told me to call customer service, and
you can’t help me on MY time? I have to wait until YOU are ready to talk to me?
Don’t make your customers cater to you – you should cater to
them.
When I finally received a call from support, a cheery voice
asked me if I was still interested in the credit application. I said no and
explained why. The response? “Okay, thank you. Have a good day.”
For every negative transaction, there must be five positive
ones to counter it. I had at least five negative transactions. Kohl’s needs 25
positive ones to counter this. Unfortunately Kohl’s is now so far down my
preferred retailer list that it will take years before I have 25 transactions
with them, much less positive ones. In the meantime, I told at least 16 people
about the problem, I tweeted about it, and now I wrote about it. How much
effort will it take for Kohl’s to overcome my negative experience?
