Jananas

I’ve been a President’s Choice MasterCard customer for a long time. I’ve been an e-Statement customer from pretty much the day they offered the service.

At the beginning of the month they changed their website (and my guess is likely their provider). Here’s what they did wrong.

1 – They didn’t send out a specific “hey we’re changing our systems so here’s what you need to know” email. Instead they tagged it onto the end of a notification I used to receive which let me know that my statement is available to view. Problem? Those are a reminder email, which means that most customers don’t read them. I got my notification and assumed that everything was status quo. You need to understand how customers use your system and behave and build accordingly.

2 – They didn’t import notification/alert preferences into the new system, so I never received the alert that reminds me that my payment is due. Ergo, my payment was late. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know – as a customer I have a responsibility to check and stay on top of things. However, when you train your customers to look when they receive a notification email that their payment is due and then you stop those emails without warning, what did you expect was going to happen?

3 – You didn’t port my account information over. I had an account on the old system, so why did I need to create an account on the new system? If you wanted me to update my password to meet your new/stronger criteria, then you could have just had me do that. Really, I consider this a standard part of any upgrade – as a business, you need to make sure that people are moved over. Think “seamless” and then act on it.

4 – Make sure to label fields well & specifically. For example, I had an account on the old system so I assumed that I needed to fill out the section that said “re-register / already enrolled”. Not exactly. It turns out that I needed to create a new account, entirely from scratch. I needed the “need to enroll” option. Again, how would I have known that?

5 – Example two for labeling fields correctly. They asked for the name on my card. Normally when I see that field on the interwebs I type in “Jana LastName”. The actual name on my card is something more like “Ms Jana LastName”. Small difference, but different nonetheless. Not necessarily a big deal except for the fact that I’ve never once had a transaction declined because my name doesn’t match which has trained me to think that the first way is fine. Lesson? If you want things to match specifically, give detailed examples. If there is a reasonable expectation that something different will work (especially based on typical transactions) then either a) accept the common variants, or b) let me know exactly what to do. Don’t just block the transaction and make me call your call centre.

6 – Don’t ask stupid security questions. These need to be uber, uber specific. Remember that I likely won’t come across these until six months, a year, or more down the road. If there is any wiggle room about my answer then I will get it wrong. Which means that I’ll have to call you – costing you money and pissing me off. Here is an example of one of the really stupid questions: “What is your pet’s name?” Which one? I have multiple pets. What happens if my pet dies between now and when I have to use this question?

This is bad execution.

I wish that companies understood that bad execution slowly erodes our trust that they are looking out for us, that they can do their job well, that we should trust them. Usability matters. Your customers’ expectations matter. Doing your job well matters.

My mom has become a diehard Apple fanatic. As far as I can tell its because she finds the user interface more intuitive. She claims its because they can “copy and paste” [#facepalm] which makes me laugh because at she made this claim iPhones couldn’t. She often goes off on tirades about how terrible Microsoft is (and they can be, don’t get me wrong), but normally the root of the problem is something totally unrelated. As a kinda tech person I get this; as a non-tech person my mom doesn’t. I think that what it comes down to is personal preference and she falls on the Apple side of the fence. To add to this, Apple has started to build their brand based on service (and to advertise this). If you pay them, a nice little tech geek at the Genius Bar will fix your computer problems for you or teach you how to use your computer better.

To sum up why my mom (a very non-tech user) loves her Apple: design, simplicity, service that will hold her hand through the tough bits.

My mom would love to have an iPhone. In fact, she’s mentioned it more than once that she’d like to get one precisely because its an Apple product. Here’s the thing – my mom doesn’t really listen to music, she’s not going to stream content or data, she still maintains a written calendar, and she hates cell phone plans and contracts with a passion. She is in no way, shape, or form in the iPhone target market. She has no need for 99% of the features of the device and she is not going to sign a 3 year contract and pay $100 a month for voice and data when she’d normally only use $10-15 in prepaid service (if that).

It seems that Apple targets the design and device fans in our generation. But because of the simplicity and service they are starting to gain market share (my assumption based on my parents and some of their friends) in an older and decidedly non-tech market. These people have the disposable income to spend on Apple products and want the brand name, but they don’t need a lot of the functionality that they have.

Imagine a simple iPhone. It has the same form factor and design. But all it can do is make calls, send texts, and take pictures. Yup. Its a simple phone with a brand name price tag associate with it. What makes it even more attractive is that it wouldn’t need a super pricey telecom contract (no data, minimal voice usage). Make it a prepaid/simple postpaid option in the $20-30 range with the customer buying the phone upfront. Yeah, I wouldn’t buy one and you likely wouldn’t buy one. But my mom would in a heartbeat.

The Daily Knitter is a website that drives traffic by offering a free daily knitting pattern. They also have a repository of free patterns, plus some exclusive patterns and articles. They drive traffic to their site by offering free patterns and earn revenue from advertising based on that traffic. My personal experience is that they are doing that at the expense of the designers.

Back in September my Basic Ear Flap Hat Pattern was picked up as one of their free patterns of the day. I was pretty excited because it meant a) traffic to my site, b) more exposure for the knitting pattern, and c) more people knitting my hat. Free patterns of the day are on the site for the last two weeks (backwards from today), however I kept getting traffic for about four months. All of a sudden in January it just stopped. Nadda, nothing.

I sent their editor a first email in January asking (nicely I might add) if the pattern could be listed on their repository of free patterns. No response and it wasn’t added. Apparently it was good enough for their free pattern of the day, but not good enough to be listed. At this point I’m a little annoyed, but hey there could be a million and one reasons why the editor didn’t respond back. So I sent another email early in February and again, no response and the pattern wasn’t added. Now, I’m really irritated – six weeks is reasonable time frame to expect a response.

This is a shitty way to treat the pattern designers. In my case, I wasn’t even asked if I was okay with them listing my pattern as the free pattern of the day. At the time I was glad for the increase in traffic but once that traffic died away but the benefit to their business continued, I was peeved because they continued to profit from using my pattern.

Here’s how I interpret their business model – they use daily free patterns to entice people to come to their site daily, driving their stats and generating ad revenue. Every new free pattern helps drive their business – so while I received a finite increase in traffic, the benefit to them from using my pattern continues long after any benefits to me (the designer) stopped.

Behind that, though, are the people writing the free patterns that the Daily Knitter is the goodwill of the designers whose patterns they use to drive traffic. In an era where reputation and trust are important, why would you risk that over something so minor?

Really, is it that difficult to add all patterns listed as ‘free patterns of the day’ on your ‘free patterns’ pages as well? Is it that difficult to respond to an email from a person whose design you’ve used (and therefore profited from)? I would think that it would be in your best interest to maintain a good relationship with your designers so that they’d be more willing to contribute to your site in the future (and thus increase the value your provide).

Daily Knitter, I think that you’ve behaved poorly and I certainly won’t be recommending that anyone use you.

Edit (March 10th) - the pattern has been added back to their listings. I’m not 100% if it was just that they finally read through their emails and there was simple a system error that I was caught in or if they came across this acted. Regardless, the email I finally got back was pleasant and friendly and the pattern has been added back. WIN!

I’ve written before about the potential impact that an increase in mobile phone usage could have on our standard call centre model. Basically, that because most customers are not paying for their minutes we should be considering the impact that the financial cost of using minutes (either real or perceived) has on their interaction with us. Namely that they’ll be less likely to put up with long waits and CSRs who can’t help them, and more likely to become irritated with our service.

Last night I woke up out of an almost dead sleep with another question. The scenario starts with one major assumption – that some users have (essentially) unlimited plans and some have a limited number of minutes available to them. The question, at least for me at that moment, is could this information be used by call centres and how would it impact service? I’m also going to make the assumption that only telecoms could act on this information because they are the only ones with access to it (in this case, could using it appropriately give them a legs up in the profitability race?).

Different kinds of service models:

• Take calls from people with limited minutes first, as they have the added pressure of the financial cost of their minutes. They may be less likely to ask for compensation or make a complaint if you don’t waste their time (which is also money in this case).
• Take calls from people with unlimited minutes first, so you could get extra revenue from the people with the limited minutes as they’d be on the phone longer. This is a little of a moot point as (as least for my teleco) all calls into the company don’t count towards your monthly limits. Its also a revenue-centric, big company squashes the little guy view but its still a potential option and so its here.
• Treat everyone equally, and answer calls on a first come first serve basis. Nothing new here and its very likely the status quo.

As a teleco, if I was going to bother to implement any sort of plan based queuing system I might as well make my decision based on customer profitability.

Again, consider this me thinking aloud. I don’t know what the status quo actually is inside Bell or Rogers or Telus or Wind. I’m sure that an employee has already made these same connections and its been talked to death about. But I haven’t and I’m trying to flex my mental muscles by thinking about how things could be different.

Before I get too deep into this post, I thought I’d make it clear that I haven’t done any research to see if anyone else has done this. For all I know it already exists and has been done well. I’m doing this more as a thought experiment – to flex my mental muscles and to think about how things could be done differently to make them better.

First, the story. I was walking to my weekly Stitch ‘n Bitch last night and I saw a parking ticket lying forlornly on the sidewalk. I’m going to make the assumption that it hadn’t been paid (it was on the street) – so there was lost revenue and potentially a repercussion down the road for the person who didn’t pay. It made me think.

What would stop someone from paying the ticket.

It could get blown off the car before someone even notices it (can’t do much about that). More than likely the parking tickets gets stuffed in a pocket and forgotten. Or taken inside and left on the coffee table/desk/by the front door/etc. and again… forgotten.

If it is remembered, then someone either has to write a cheque and mail it in (technology, what?!?), go pay in person (value of time, say what?!?), or pay online. At least with the City of Toronto, it is pretty easy to pay online. In fact, all details are covered here in case you were curious. You have to enter the ticket number [as an aside, why are the parking ticket reference numbers never, ever, ever in the system? I pay and sort of hope that it gets connected on the backend somewhere.], enter your card information, get a confirmation code, and done. Not hard.

But its still one more step. And between getting the ticket and paying for it, there is a whole lot of time where the person has the opportunity to forget about it or lose it.

How do you make it easier?

The easier way to, well, make it easier is to cut out the chance to forget. What about a mobile app (for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry) that would allow you to immediately pay the ticket. One minute of your time and its done. No more worrying if its been done, no more surprises when you have to renew your license and you can’t because of unpaid parking tickets.

Yes, with an internet enabled device you could search for how to pay the ticket but I think that with that extra step people would just put it into the mental bucket of ‘do it at home’. With an application, they can tap a button on screen and get taken directly to the online ticket payment page for the city they are in (based on gps of course). If you wanted to get fancier, you could create a mobile payment page to collect the information even faster to make the process take even less time.

It wouldn’t change the behaviour of the people who never pay their parking tickets, but I do think that you’d collect more revenue from the people who might have good intentions but otherwise forget. I don’t know if there would be any room for revenue (i.e. City’s might let you take a cut of the current credit card fee added to online payments if you can demonstrated increased payment rates) or if it would make sense for each City to roll out their own app.

If it was one single app, you could start with your local major city. Then roll out to the surrounding suburbs (where people would also be likely to go). Then roll out to other major cities. That way a person would only need one app for everywhere they’d travel and it would just be taken care of. It might also mean that Cities would get more revenue from non-residents as they’d be more in the habit of paying (well, maybe…).

What do you think?