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.

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.