Hoping to download a movie to watch on the long Seattle-NYC flight, I sent Amazon an email with a question about its new Unbox video service. Not only did they answer within the hour, they also included a link to indicate whether the answer solved my question or not.
Choosing the "yes" option, I was delivered to a "Thanks for your feedback!" message, which not coincidently put me back onto the Amazon site. The thank-you also contained a link to provide additional feedback.
Following that link leads you to a page to provide detailed comments:
If you responded "no" to the original question, you are taken to a similar page to rephrase the question (see below).
Analysis
This simple feedback mechanism provides five important benefits:
- Demonstrates you actually care whether the user's problem is resolved satisfactorily
- Allows customer to easily submit another question if not satisfactorily resolved
- Allows you to quantify the performance of the service department
- Identifies areas where better answers are needed
- Helps identify tricky problems that can be corrected
All financial institutions should consider similar techniques for improving electronic customer service.
Now, if only the Amazon video-download service were as efficient as its service reps. First, it took two tries to get the player downloaded. Then the 90-minute, 1.7 GB movie took nearly eight hours to download via my Wi-Fi connection to our Comcast cable modem, never going much faster than 80k per second. Bottom line: For $2.99, it's still worth doing, provided you plan far enough in advance.