A recent entry from Joshua Baer, a local entrepreneur in Austin, TX, on the subject of turning complainers into champions, struck me as especially appropriate given the season.  We’re many of us experiencing how companies handle customer service issues right now: returns, especially, are an opportunity for companies to turn complainers into champions.  Delayed flights, or bad experiences traveling, likewise.

A hotel executive once told me that every mistake or customer problem was actually an opportunity to build on the brand by fixing it aggressively for the customer and engaging with them – that when customers *don’t* complain, it is actually hard to win them over to being champions. I recently ordered a laptop bag from Ebags and when it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, the return process was painless, and *free*.  I’ll definitely consider ordering from them again.

Josh’s experiences with OtherInbox serve as the examples for his presentation – and I can attest that their customer service is excellent, as I’m a user (and former complainer) of the service myself.  I didn’t quite “get” how it interacted with Gmail at first, but once I did, I became a convert and I’ve recommended it to others, such as Keith Swenson. There are lessons to learn from this approach, even if you don’t run a consumer-facing business.

Related posts:

1. Apple Customer Service
2. Customer Service at its Finest
3. Customer Lifetime Value

Keith Swenson has a few posts on the frustrations of email these days – and after some time experimenting and a friendly nudge from me, he’s come around and tried OtherInbox.

The problem?  Too much spam, which makes email nearly useless.

The proposed solution (my take):  use an email provider that has a REALLY good spam filter.  Like Gmail.  I have a very old personal address that gets 99% spam but the occasional personal note comes through it.  I forward it through a Gmail account and as a result I see the 10 or so useful emails that show up on that email address per year.

But, Gmail only effectively filters spam.  It doesn’t help you filter merchant emails that you would like to receive, but perhaps not in the quantities that you receive them.  Only some merchants are nice enough to let you state how often you want to hear from them.  There are lots of opt-in situations where you are required to provide an email address.  You could use a single “spam email” to opt-in to all these confirmations, etc.  But then you can’t tell who gave your email address to the spammers when it does go bad, and you can’t turn it off selectively.

OtherInbox solves that problem by letting you give each merchant a unique email address that you can later turn off if it becomes an avenue for spam.  You can also use it to sign up for group mailing lists, and the like, which are more likely to get compromised than some commercial accounts.

I think between Gmail and OtherInbox, you can largely whip the spam problem.  For now…

Related posts:

1. Christmas is a Wonderful Time to Think “Customer Service”
2. The Google #Wave Effect
3. A Crack in the GooglePlex Facade