Why brands need to get their customer service and marketing right

A recent mishap over an online order got me thinking about how easy it is for brands to make or break their reputation when dealing with this sort of thing and why creating a great customer experience at all touch points and at every point in the customer journey is crucial. It started with a mistake on my part when I tried to order a calendar from Vistaprint for a family member. I couldn’t see the free delivery button on the web page so I ended up accidently choosing the expensive express service – it was too late to change it as the order had already gone through. Oh s***, I thought as I psyched myself up for the impossible task of finding a contact number and getting through to a human being.

Lucky for me the freephone number was at the top of their homepage so no trawling through the site map this time, and I got through to the customer support adviser promptly. He was polite, helpful and knowledgeable and even though it was my mistake – I did click the wrong button – he refunded me the delivery cost. Within a few minutes a refund notice landed in my inbox, followed by a request for customer service feedback. I don’t normally fill these out unless I’ve had a bad experience but this time I did.

I thought this was the end of it. A few days later I got another email asking me to give Vistaprint another chance and offering me 20% off my next order. Okay so it’s just an automated chain of emails triggered by my phone call but I was touched nevertheless, and not only am I more likely to order from them again but I’ll tell other people about my experience. While I’m not going to tweet it, but someone will and a would-be customer will probably look for opinions from customers online in places like Shoptweets.

It’s just a shame that Vistaprint have got their customer service spot on but still seem to take a scattergun approach to their email marketing. I’ve had 10 marketing emails since 1 January, including two today, one at 06.15, then another at 08.15! I have unsubscribed once before – I printed some business cards back in 2006 and my inbox was flooded with almost daily offers and deals. And now my finger is hovering over the unsubscribe button again because no one likes to feel like they’re being hounded for business.

By Smarayda Christoforou, Copywriter, DMA

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