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CLOSE – BUT GOT THE CIGAR
Listed under: Comments
Published: Friday, August 06, 2010
I bought an iPad the other day. It just had to be done; I was swallowed up by the hype, despite not really being able to justify it on any grounds at all.
It offers me nothing that I can’t do on my iPhone, MacBook Air or desktop Mac. But it’s über sexy and their marketing and brand building strategy has been so effective that I, like many millions of others, just had to buy one. I’m a Mac head, I admit it, or should that be an Apple Tart?
Last month I told you about my experience of buying a bike, which was ever so nearly the perfect retail experience, but which fell at the final hurdle. I called that article ‘Close but no Cigar’. This one about my iPad experience could be called 'Close, but Got the Cigar'. I’ve had my first poor experience in an Apple Store, albeit one that was rescued at the 11th hour.
Swaying somewhere between an Innovator and Early Adopter, I didn’t go straight into the Apple Store upon the release of the iPad. Instead I waited a couple of weeks or so, to allow the initial rush to die down (I also don’t like queues) and for the model I wanted to become available - the 3G version. So I duly stepped into my local Apple Store and enquired as to whether they had any in stock. Of course, being the most popular product launch in Apple’s history, the demand was much greater than the supply and they only had the top of the range model in stock. Even being the consummate Apple sucker that I am, I couldn’t justify the expense of a 64Gb 3G model, and so I put my name down on the reserve list for the model I wanted. I was told an email would be sent to me as soon as it was in stock and it would be put to one side.
hopes dashed
About a week passed and nothing had happened, apart from a couple of courtesy emails to say it’s on its way and “We’re working as fast as we can to get it for you”. Which is good customer service in my opinion - keeping in contact with your customers is an absolute must (and something that we perhaps fall down on in our industry sometimes). After a couple more days, on a Friday, the email arrived. However, it was 6.20pm before I got it and I was already on the way to my weekend destination. Contained within the email was an ‘amend your reservation’ button. I clicked this thinking it would enable me to leave them a message to say I was away, but would come and collect it on the Sunday afternoon - I didn’t want them selling it to anyone else, knowing what short supply they were in. Alas, the only option presented to me was to cancel my reservation, and of course I didn’t want to do that. Saturday was busy, which prevented me from calling the store, and so my next point of contact was Sunday afternoon when I arrived to collect my much sought after box in one of those lovely drawstring bags.
The sales assistant took my name, disappeared into the back and after around 10-minutes came back to double check my surname. After another 10-minutes or so he came back empty-handed again. Imagine my horror, despair, frustration and downright anger when the sales assistant returned to say the reservation had been cancelled as they only keep reserved items for 24-hours. It was, as he pointed out, on the email they had sent me. But being as it was in the small print of an email I had only quickly read on my iPhone whilst stuck in a traffic jam, received on a Friday evening when people often go away for weekends - I found this a little annoying.
In my opinion, Apple have fallen foul of their own success here. It is bad customer service to generate such desire for a product, raising expectations amongst one’s devotees, encouraging them to reserve a product and then expecting them to be able to pop in and collect it at the drop of a hat. All it does is alienate the very people who are core to the marketing strategy, namely the innovators and early adopters who are going to evangelise about the new product, the brand and the whole, flawless, buying experience.
making amends
But, as I said at the beginning of this article, they got the cigar in the end. Having calmed down, I chatted to the sales guy about the customer service aspects of the experience and, sympathising with me, he went to talk to his manager to see what they could do. After a considerable wait he came back with an iPad in his hand. "This is one that a colleague of mine put to one side for someone who is coming to collect it in the next 20 minutes" he said. "He hasn't followed the rules on product reservation and so I have been told I can let you have this one, and I’ll explain to the other customer when he comes in.” Whilst I feel sorry for the next would-be purchaser, at least the shop manager saw the importance of not further alienating someone who had made a number of previous purchases.
So the situation was rescued at the last minute, and I left a happy customer. My faith in Apple’s commitment to its dedicated followers had been restored and now not only am I evangelising about the product and the brand, but I’m also espousing the values of their customer service.
Alas, we don't deal with products like the iPad, which generate so much desire that demand massively outstrips supply – if only we did! Would you be ready for it? Would all your staff? Are your systems for reserving goods clear and unambiguous, and do you keep customers so courteously informed if they have to wait for orders to arrive?
Contact: +44 (0)20 8150 6741 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
www.bada.co.uk
Last month I told you about my experience of buying a bike, which was ever so nearly the perfect retail experience, but which fell at the final hurdle. I called that article ‘Close but no Cigar’. This one about my iPad experience could be called 'Close, but Got the Cigar'. I’ve had my first poor experience in an Apple Store, albeit one that was rescued at the 11th hour.
Swaying somewhere between an Innovator and Early Adopter, I didn’t go straight into the Apple Store upon the release of the iPad. Instead I waited a couple of weeks or so, to allow the initial rush to die down (I also don’t like queues) and for the model I wanted to become available - the 3G version. So I duly stepped into my local Apple Store and enquired as to whether they had any in stock. Of course, being the most popular product launch in Apple’s history, the demand was much greater than the supply and they only had the top of the range model in stock. Even being the consummate Apple sucker that I am, I couldn’t justify the expense of a 64Gb 3G model, and so I put my name down on the reserve list for the model I wanted. I was told an email would be sent to me as soon as it was in stock and it would be put to one side.
hopes dashed
About a week passed and nothing had happened, apart from a couple of courtesy emails to say it’s on its way and “We’re working as fast as we can to get it for you”. Which is good customer service in my opinion - keeping in contact with your customers is an absolute must (and something that we perhaps fall down on in our industry sometimes). After a couple more days, on a Friday, the email arrived. However, it was 6.20pm before I got it and I was already on the way to my weekend destination. Contained within the email was an ‘amend your reservation’ button. I clicked this thinking it would enable me to leave them a message to say I was away, but would come and collect it on the Sunday afternoon - I didn’t want them selling it to anyone else, knowing what short supply they were in. Alas, the only option presented to me was to cancel my reservation, and of course I didn’t want to do that. Saturday was busy, which prevented me from calling the store, and so my next point of contact was Sunday afternoon when I arrived to collect my much sought after box in one of those lovely drawstring bags.
The sales assistant took my name, disappeared into the back and after around 10-minutes came back to double check my surname. After another 10-minutes or so he came back empty-handed again. Imagine my horror, despair, frustration and downright anger when the sales assistant returned to say the reservation had been cancelled as they only keep reserved items for 24-hours. It was, as he pointed out, on the email they had sent me. But being as it was in the small print of an email I had only quickly read on my iPhone whilst stuck in a traffic jam, received on a Friday evening when people often go away for weekends - I found this a little annoying.
In my opinion, Apple have fallen foul of their own success here. It is bad customer service to generate such desire for a product, raising expectations amongst one’s devotees, encouraging them to reserve a product and then expecting them to be able to pop in and collect it at the drop of a hat. All it does is alienate the very people who are core to the marketing strategy, namely the innovators and early adopters who are going to evangelise about the new product, the brand and the whole, flawless, buying experience.
making amends
But, as I said at the beginning of this article, they got the cigar in the end. Having calmed down, I chatted to the sales guy about the customer service aspects of the experience and, sympathising with me, he went to talk to his manager to see what they could do. After a considerable wait he came back with an iPad in his hand. "This is one that a colleague of mine put to one side for someone who is coming to collect it in the next 20 minutes" he said. "He hasn't followed the rules on product reservation and so I have been told I can let you have this one, and I’ll explain to the other customer when he comes in.” Whilst I feel sorry for the next would-be purchaser, at least the shop manager saw the importance of not further alienating someone who had made a number of previous purchases.
So the situation was rescued at the last minute, and I left a happy customer. My faith in Apple’s commitment to its dedicated followers had been restored and now not only am I evangelising about the product and the brand, but I’m also espousing the values of their customer service.
Alas, we don't deal with products like the iPad, which generate so much desire that demand massively outstrips supply – if only we did! Would you be ready for it? Would all your staff? Are your systems for reserving goods clear and unambiguous, and do you keep customers so courteously informed if they have to wait for orders to arrive?
Contact: +44 (0)20 8150 6741 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
www.bada.co.uk
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