Customer Service: Creating Brand Advocates & how ASOS does it right
As you may or may not know I’m off to Australia this weekend for a long (and I can vouch that it is well-deserved) break. As with all holidays of any length, there is always the task of meeting those last minute to-dos at home and at work, which tend to increase your stress levels a teensy bit. Unfortunately, my standard reaction to stress is… to shop. And what better way than online where I can browse in short stints to my heart’s content.
As I’ve noted in previous blog posts, time is of the essence here so the sites where I get fast loading pages, videos of what the clothes will look like as I walk (vital information people) and that have easy navigation will be my constant ‘go-to’. But, it doesn’t stop there - I expect, no actually, I demand as my right, good customer service. In my book it’s practically a crime to provide a product or service to someone and then, once you’ve got their money; ‘Ok thanks, see you later… who are you?’
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you As Seen On Screen or ASOS.com as it’s more commonly known. I’ve been a devotee of this glorious company’s services for almost five years and never turned back. In fact, I can cite multiple people that I have recommended this site to and they have also become firm advocates. Using the example of a purchase I made yesterday (please see the first paragraph detailing my guilty stress habits) I will break down the pillars of their excellent customer ethos in three ways:
Constant Customer Communication
An oh-so-simple philosophy but one of the least adhered to of online vendors. As I subscribe to the ASOS.com newsletter, I received an email alerting me to the fact that there was to be a Free Next Day Delivery offer running from 9am – 5pm (customer loyalty points begin to roll in). In a fit of abandon I decided to buy two pairs of shoes for my holiday (note: these shoes were on sale and still included in the next day delivery offer and I was able to use a £5 off voucher in the same transaction). Once my purchase was confirmed using their secure payment area where my card details are stored, I received a beautifully worded email, kept in the same style and branding as their website and all other marketing collateral. It gave details of how they like to provide their service, how I could track the order and of my actual purchase. I then received an email confirming that my brand spanking new shoes were en route. Short but sweet and with links to how I could follow the progress of my delivery and also continue to shop (dangerous, but fair knowledge of their target audience – we like to shop).
Total Customer Loyalty Points So Far: 6
Here’s the clincher. I had in my eagerness to speed buy, put in my home address rather than my office address as the delivery point. So this morning, I sent an email to the delivery company who did get back to me quite fast in their defence, but did not wish to deal with my request to simply leave my delivery in the porch. However, on emailing ASOS.com, not only did I get a quicker response but also a personal promise to alert the delivery company immediately of my request. Coming from a comparatively smaller company to the delivery provider (and working in a similar position of a small company in a big pond) I was suitably impressed by the respondent taking personal responsibility for my request in the face of a (quite stupid) action that they had no culpability for.
Total Customer Loyalty Points: A Bazillion
Manage Customer Expectations
This is another important tenet of customer service. It’s all well and good to promise that you will get something done, sing from the hills about how great you are and leave a customer with a warm fuzzy feeling. But, if you don’t meet the expectations built at the outset of any relationship (even for the simple purchase of some holiday shoes) you will soon find that warm fuzzy feeling you left your customer with freezing in to cold, hard hatred. I’m sure any self-respecting organization knows that with the fast advent of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, disgruntled customers are all too quick to leap on to the nearest online device to vent their frustration (bye, bye customer loyalty points).
ASOS.com actually surpassed my expectations by getting back well within their standard 4 hour response time – in fact ‘Sam’ actually got back in touch with me before I’d even received the automatic email response. She explained what actions she was going to take, when she was going to carry them out and managed my expectations as to the likelihood this would result in my request being completed. So now I, Miss Customer, have kept my warm, fuzzy feeling and because I feel that they are going to try their best to carry out my request, if it’s not successful I will not begrudge them (customer loyalty points banked).
Easy Return Policy
ASOS.com are so confident in their products and service that at multiple points within the purchase and customer communication process they alerted me to how I could cancel my purchase. Not only that but they offer free returns – no postage, no fees. It amazes me how organizations are fearful of making it simple for customers to leave if they’re not happy with the service, have outgrown it or seen a perceived ‘better offer’ elsewhere. For me, the ability to say ‘this is not quite right for me’ and being met with a straightforward returns process means I’m more likely to use ASOS.com again for my replacement purchase. See how those customer loyalty points come in here?
In conclusion, I guess my point is I have a firm belief that great customer service will get you everywhere in business and you should never rest on your laurels. For ASOS.com to have hit the nail so rightly on the head with their service philosophies in a fiercely competitive space as online fashion deserves great applause.
Result: A lifetime VOCAL advocate of ASOS
About Namuli Katumba
Namuli is Head of Account Management and Service at Ultraspeed. You can find her on Twitter at @namkat.