I’m sure you’ve heard about the new Domino’s Pizza. I did, as well as the comments from customers about it.

I think it’s a natural tendency to praise and critique new things in the market. Some would love it, others won’t. But I have to hand it to Domino’s for going through the trouble of research and development just to come up with a pizza that will satisfy their existing customers more and win back the lost customers.

As for me, I loved Domino’s for its pizza and more so for its dip. Here in the country, I think Domino’s pioneered this. In fact, for a long time, Domino’s is the only pizza house that has dips to go with their pizza. One other company followed, but is not really succeeding.

Domino’s premise: they excel in service, why shouldn’t they excel, too, in taste? Why not indeed!

Read how Domino’s came up with its new pizza.

An article on StockWatch says that Google customer support should deploy a better customer service strategy. And that is to let customers talk to a customer support representative (read: a person), not just through email, support forums, or refer to FAQs.

I agree! Especially that Nexus One is a new product, and there will be issues on compatibility or upgrade policies. Right now, Nexus One customers are flooding the company with questions, and according to the news many of them are not happy with the customer service they’re getting.

I’m sure Nexus One will address this problem soon. But it’s a lesson to all other service companies. If you are launching a service or a product, make sure that your customer support is ready to face customers.

Is Nexus One customer support ready? 

For website/blog owners, a horrific experience is when they find out that their site is down. That’s why they make sure that they pay its renewal fees among other things to keep the site working and running smoothly.

Sadly, Carlo Ople of New Media Philippines just had a frustrating experience with Philhosting.net. Carlo narrates:

I got a few calls from friends this afternoon saying that http://newmedia.com.ph was down. The message was that the domain expired. This got me really frustrated and angry since I was running an ad campaign to drive traffic to the site and I was just plugging New Media in a talk I was giving this afternoon to around 150 people. I called up my host and domain registry – www.philhosting.net to see what was happening. Man… I literally flipped out in anger after talking to their customer support agent. This is by far one of the worst experiences I’ve had with a tech company (save for PLDT). If you will ever get a domain host and registry, don’t go to them for their services. Let me share with you guys what I had to go through after the break.

Continue reading…

There’s no denying the influence and the reach of social media. In fact, social media has empowered every customer. Organizations that do not get into social media can be missing a lot.

An article on RetailCustomerExperience.com cites reasons why customer feedback using social media is valuable.

Social media represents one way — not the only way, but one way — to differentiate the customer’s shopping experience, which takes place around the clock and is distinct from the buying experience. Customers are interacting with retail brands at all times and in many different places — on the iPhone at the dinner table, on the computer at work, watching ads on television. Social media attempts to touch shoppers at many of those points. Continue reading…

View here customer feedback using social media.

Toronto Transit Commission (TCT) is one of those companies that listens to their customers and does something about it.

Following an observation that they’re customer service is not as good as it should be, the Toronto Transit Commission created a blue-ribbon panel that will review every aspect of how the agency conducts itself. And customers will be part of this panel.

According to CBC News, TCT announced a number of measures designed to boost the level of customer service and improve relations which riders:

• Introducing an online trip planner next week that will allow riders to plan journeys using TTC facilities.
• Providing customer service training for staff.
• Reviewing staff uniforms.
• The installation of 50 more Metropass vending machines this year.
• Giving SMS capability to 800 streetcar stops by July, a feature that will allow customers to send a text message to the TTC to find out how much longer they have to wait for a ride.
• Installing LED screens that will tell riders when the next vehicle will arrive at “select” shelters and subway stations by July.
• Installing those LED screens at 350 bus and streetcar shelters by 2011.

Read more…

Social is the key term in transactions today, thus the rise of social media. How are we using social media in our business?

This presentation by Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, Senior Analyst of Forester Research, touches on the ROI of Social Media and how it is used to create customer service communities.

View the presentation now.

Related story:
Social Media As Customer Service

*Photo from Stock.Xchng

Sun Country Airlines shares their case study on putting people in the loop for better customer service.

Station managers moved from having to make time-consuming phone calls, or booting up laptops, to a few clicks on the BlackBerry smartphone. They are all impressed with the difference it’s made having the key information they need readily available.

“It’s eliminated those wait times in front of customers,” says Kevin Bottemiller, IT Project Manager, Sun Country Airlines. “They no longer have to make multiple calls, or make educated guesses, about the reasons for flight delays. They now look very professional in front of your passengers because they can immediately pull up definitive answers.”

Read the case study.

*Photo credit

I agree with most everybody that it’s easy to say that your company is customer-centric. But to  be really one takes the right strategy and the right corresponding action toward it.

Stacy Blackman of BNET’s Back to B-School shares three key points from Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati’s  book, Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business.

1. Ask the right questions.
2. Make the creative leap.
3. Get your organization to act.

Read more…

Then find out What Fresh Express and Harley-Davidson Have in Common: Customer-Centricity

Everyone is talking about it. Steve Jobs comes up again with a gadget that got everyone talking: the iPAD.

PCWorld reports:

Apple on Wednesday launched its much-awaited iPad tablet device, a handheld that will allow users to view movies, surf the Internet and play high-definition games.

Continue reading…

On the Straight Times is an article that talks about the service literacy test in Singapore. The question is: to provide good customer service, what should you do when speaking with a customer?

The question is a sample from an English proficiency test. And this part requires an oral answer. Foreign workers in three industries such as hotel, food & beverage and retail must pass it to get a work permit as a skilled worker.

Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Manpower and Trade & Industry, announced the details of the Service Literacy Test (SLT) to improve standards and productivity in the services sector. It has two components: speaking and listening. If a worker attains skilled status, his employer will save $90 a month in the foreign-worker levy. Continue reading…

I think this is a first in the service industry. What’s good about it is that the employer also gets some savings when their employees get a good mark in the test. This way, both the employees and the employer stand to benefit from it. But the biggest winner actually is the customer.