Tuesday, May 20th, 2008...May 20, 2008
User experience web and beyond
I had one of the best web user experiences I have ever had the other day. Enough that I feel obligated to post about it.
I was purchasing a Flip camera via Amazon. Amazon in general is a great shopping experience. The cart the recommendation, the reviews. It ties everything together in a great package. So I was kind of flustered while ordering and I forgot to change my shipping address. I was getting it shipped overnight and I needed to change it quick. So I got to my order and there was a edit your order link.
After I click it gives me options a contact and an urgent contact. I needed this changed quick so I go to urgent and it says phone. So I click expecting to have a phone number to call where I will have to sit though 30 voice prompts. I was wrong, it asked for my phone number and within 3 seconds my phone was ringing. It was a computer but I was told I was already in the queue and within approx 30 seconds I was on with a live human being. No enter 3 for this and whatnot. Straight to a real person because they knew I needed a really person fast.
That in an of itself was great. Now I tell them my issue and they say the item has already begun the shipping process. Bare in mind I only purchased this item approx 2 minutes ago at this point (talk about well oiled machine). So they sent the item back or origin, they reset my order and told me to refresh the order page and there was now a link that said “change order info”.
This is an amazing experience, in the day and age of people dreading most customer service interactions Amazon took the time to care about me and address me in a timely manner and I was left feeling great and now I am selling them to you as a genuinely satisfied customer.
So now to the hook, imagine a student in the recruiting process getting this kind of VIP preferential treatment. They give us their info and have a personalized call made to them in a short timely manner. In my experience of universities I have dealt with the recruiting process is a very confusing and poorly planned process for many students. I will follow up shortly with more experiences I have seen lately.
Remember the students are now in the power position in ever step of the process so we need to treat them like royalty, user experience is a huge deal and can leave a positive or negative impression of your organization.
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3 Comments
May 20th, 2008 at May 20, 2008
Amen, brother. That’s the important part of understanding Web use. Options are critical, since plans and information change so frequently.
May 20th, 2008 at May 20, 2008
There are subtleties here that are really cool.
Just a few:
1) they trust the user. Is this urgent or normal? By letting you be reasonable, they save themselves some portion (30-70% ?) of the “urgent” experience cost load. I’ve been in so many conversation where the first bounce off a new idea comes from not trusting the user.
From, “If we don’t control it, everyone will go crazy.” to “Sure that sounds great, but what about the serial killers?”
2) They are out of the box smart. Normal customer service = call us. By providing options and reversing the call process they save money and time letting them give you a) a short wait time b) a real person. The two things you the customer care about.
3) They give you so many empowerment options to help yourself, again, saving money to provide service when you need it.
A direction I’ve recently been excited about - out of the current box - is giving the students the ability to keep up their academic records.
Right now, student info is siloed up in different parts of the institution. Career over there, admissions over here, activities . . .ummm, transcript somewhere else.
If this info was stored with the user, they could give each department the info it needed to provide customized service.
It’s too private you say? Medical records are going this direction for the exact same reason - all with the goal of providing a better / more effective experience.
July 29th, 2008 at July 29, 2008
I had a similar experience with Amazon, needing to change my shipping info after having placed the order. That part went fine, or so I assumed, but my order ended up being continually “delayed” for about two weeks. And three separate times I postulated my theory to them via e-mail and phone calls that the order I’d placed had become “stuck” in the system.
Finally, the fourth time I called, I got a very helpful customer support person (I shouldn’t have to say this, but he was an American) who was able to get the situation straightened away for me. He told me my theory was absolutely right, that the order was bouncing around in limbo and would never ship. I would just keep getting the “order has been delayed” messages from now to eternity.
So while my initial experience with the order/address changing process was very good - the exception case handling was incredibly mediocre.
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