Need Input on Customer Service Issue
 

We have a lot of problems with email. It gets lost. Replies that we spend a lot of time on bounce back. Spam filters kill a lot of our responses. People say they've emailed us 3 times, and yet we never get it.

Basically, email's time has come and gone. I personally get about 2000+ messages (most are junk) in my box every day.

So, I'm probably going to move all of Pelican to a web-based Customer Service System, where all responses and communication will be done through the web (no more email). Emails sent to our email address will be bounced back with a link telling people to use our web-based system (and why).

It's gotten to the point where we cannot do business via email anymore. It's too unreliable, and it leads to too much lost business and too many irritated customers.

My question to you (our customers) is how will this change be perceived? In the grand scheme of things, it will be a huge improvement in terms of accuracy and accountability. In the short term, people might be irritated that they cannot simply use their email program to communicate with us. Coordinating the email with a web-based system is an option, but then you still have junk mail problems.

I'm pretty much decided that we will move to something like this (it will allow us better integration with the ordering system too). However, I'm not sure what customer reactions will be.

???

-Wayne

Most companies are moving away from order taking from e-mails and gone to either phone orders or website orders. It is not reliable anymore. I do not think it will have a negative reaction.

YOur post mitigates some or all of the neg. effects. It is more of a hassle for customers. Sad to hear it, but I understand.

Ditto Drew.

Case in point: Forwarded an email from my work address to my home "comcast" email and I kid you not, it was 13 days before it appeared in my inbox. Had that been a reply from a vendor I was shopping with I would've gone nuts.

Time to find a more reliable system. It'll also be bulletproof come cust. service issue time..

rjp

rjp

Personally I prefer the web or the phone for communications with a vendor as a customer. I like to receive an email confirmation of an order, but otherwise I like to have a web interface for order placing/status/tracking. If a web interface isn't available then I prefer a toll free number.

I really like email for some things, but not to use for someone that I am buying something from.

Yes, I have a miata now, but you guys will still supply my ATE super blue, H4 headlight conversion, etc...

I think this will be a good change in the long run. There maybe some issues in the beginning but time will pass. I experienced the exact problem you described I sent an email and never got a response, this was irritating to me since everyone (including myself) says Pelican Parts has the best customer service.

Will the new system allow people to send in questions or will we just have to call in with a question?

poeple put orders in via email? that is like sending you a letter:

dear mr dempsey;

my car is a 1975 911S,.........please send me the following parts, blah blah blah. please find check enclosed. feel free to delete the sticker because i have a hundred of them.

joeblowcustomer.

i cant see how that can be reliable. i like talking to darren if i need a order that comes with some questions from me. but if i am doing something i fully understand, it is off to the website!

If it works, do what you have to do. If you are still the best company to do business with, you will have business. Sounds like Pelican is getting too big. I have no problems with ordering other non auto related and some auto mechandise online and the companies selling said goods resopnd to email about half the time. So, I suppose website communication fits in, but I've never had any experience with it. No one I have ever bought anything from on the Internet has done anything other than email to me.

It's amazing how Koni will answer any email question, but they don't sell direct. Just the opposite of Pelican. I don't fit the buying demographics, too old. I still prefer phone orders.

So, how does it work? You log into an area within the site and view your messages?

Live chat is an option I see occasionally and use with success. Without active customer service you will only sell the items detailed on the website and nothing else. If there are questions or issues you may lose that business. However, your competitors, other than a dealer, will have the same issues so it shouldn't hurt your business. I personally have never e-mailed or even called PP and am always able to find what I want online. The only suggestion would be a more up to date order tracking segment online. Today I called Summit Racing to check on a special order item and while on hold it directed me to an area on the website which gave me the info I desired.

John

It would be nice to email if I have a problem with an order, but that's about it. Web-based ordering works well for me. I get instant confirmaiton that my order was received. I like being able to check on an order on your site, but the email to notify me isn't necessary, at least with Pelican.

It's not so much orders, but people would email and say "can you please increase the qty of SuperBlue from 2 to 3 on my order?"

Or quote requests - some people say they never hear back from us, despite me having multiple people answering email all day long. It's very frustrating on us, when someone prepares a long quote, or reply, and then the email bounces, or doesn't get through, or the customer never receives it.

"Will the new system allow people to send in questions or will we just have to call in with a question?"

The new system will allow Customer Service Questions, *and* technical questions. Right now, we only give tech support over email - not over the phone. Basically any inquiries will be directed through this system, and it will replace email completely.

All good info and feedback, please keep the comments coming...

-Wayne

The first problem with doing business via email is the mistaken assumptions of instantaneous delivery and delivery at all. It just wasn't designed that way. Why, back when I was your age, we used UUCP for email, with ! notation in the addresses. Our site dialed out once a day to send/receive messages, forwarding/retrieving them from the next site, and so on. It could take a week to turn around an email.

That, coupled with getting up half an hour before we went to bed, cleaning the lake, then walking uphill both ways in the snow to get to the unheated keypunch shack with no indoor plumbing, made life very difficult, but we didn't mind.

Tell that to kids today and they won't believe you!

But seriously, a web-based correspondence system makes much more sense, although I'm not a fan of 'chat' based systems.

According to my procmail logs, I'm closing in on 100k spam messages a month, between 2 addresses I've had since '92 and '95, respectively.

Tom, when I was a kid we did all that for $.25 week. And we never complained, not a peep.

What about order confirmation?

Wayne, Web based ordering/inquiry works for me.

What do I want to see?

1-A confirmation page I can print;and
2-A way to track order status.

FWIW

It seems to me that you are talking here more about adding a CRM (customer relationship management) system to your arsenal, in conjunction with the web-based ordering. Is that correct?

There is no question but that you should move to a web-based Customer Relationship Managment system based on your description of the problems you have been having, problems that are indicative of an organization that is experiencing tremendous growth.

And here's what "my" perception would be: That your growing... what you have now is simply not working.... and in keeping with the desire to maintain excellent customer service (which is one of the main reasons the growth exists) you are seeking to add new technolgy that supports the growth, and at the same time, allows you to maintain high levels of customer service.

My company has been intimately involved in developing software solutions in the CRM arena for several years now, and I can say from experience, that a well designed CRM solution will help you to manage your customers and organizations exponential growth very effectively.

DO IT.

We have some of the same issues in our business. I don't know what your volume is, but we ship about 100 orders a day, so some percentage of orders are wrong, need changed, have issues (CC doesn't go through) etc.

We run into the same problems as e-mail, but since that's what 99% of the population deals with, and as a whole people/customers are dumb (no offence intended to anyone, that's just how big groups of people work), it's hard to get them to change.

We've implemented live chat, but since you're dealing with a lot of DIYs vs. consumers, I'd say that would be a bad bad thing, and would advise against it.

Moving to a web based system makes a lot of sense, as long as you do it the correct way and don't neglect e-mail completely. I'd try to be sure of the following:

1. Very big signs that say you're switching to a web based system, links, instructions, etc.

2. Still use e-mail to do notifications that the status of your web ticket has changed (i.e. if I write in and get a response, I want an e-mail to tell me to go look) Also, maybe tie it in so that we can put in our forum username and it will send us a PM on status change as well.

3. Give at least a 6 month grace period to still deal with e-mails once the system is running. Just have one person sift through and take the e-mails and add them to the system. Don't let people get complacent and lazy though, send the a big message with BIG WORDS about using the web interface and that the cutoff date for e-mail will be xx/xx/xx.

Also, do a google search for spambayes, it's a great filtering program for Outlook that is freeware, and it works excellent. Even if you're worried about it flagging some stuff wrong, you can turn it down a little, but I've actually turned it up and had 0 problems.

It takes a message and makes it a percentage likely to be spam, if it's under 15% likely it goes to your inbox, if it's over 85% likely it goes in your junkmail folder, if it's in between it goes to a Junk Suspects folder. I usually only get 4-5 suspect messages a day, 0 spam in my inbox, and 0 false positives on spam. It learns and gets better as it goes as well. Just something to try for stopgap during the transition.

I've used this option many times, and most often with great success and satisfaction. It's something you might consider, Wayne.

Scott

One other thing, check out www.newegg.com every so often and see what new features they've come up wiht.

They have grown really fast, and they must have a couple of full time developers just because they change it so often. It just might be a cool site to get some ideas from.

Man you were spoiled. We didn't even get paid! :D
-Chris

Not yet - I'd rather have people call in. My salesreps can talk faster than they can write. I see no need for live chat - it seems like a waste of everyone's time when questions can be answered in 30 seconds over the phone?

-Wayne

Yep, I know. This provides the belt and suspenders to ensure you know your order did not disappear into the ether.

I think it's fine. I have the same problems as you, Wayne - I get couple thousand emails a day, and my spam software sometimes deletes good ones. It's a real shame that the spammers have basically f****d up what WAS a great way to communicate.

On the other hand, I saw an email special from Performance Products get downloaded then deleted about 10 minutes ago, so that worked in your favor!

chat blows...forget it. Web based is good, especially if it is db-driven (although mysql would be my choice as opposed to ms nonsense). And work on RSS feeds for your information (catalog and support). Take a look here:

http://www.apple.com/rss/

Once you get feeds up people can subscribe on a client basis, or they can be included in other web sources (like the forums here, or other people's sites, or...)

trust me on this...RSS

If you have to do it then you have to do it but I prefer email over web interfaces. Make sure that people are aware of what you are doing or you will have a lot of unhappy people wondering why they are being ignored.

I sent an e-mail over a week ago but didn't get a response. I assumed it was because I said that there was no hurry to reply, however, I now think it might have been lost. I placed one order for some items I needed, but I am still awaiting an answer to my questions before proceeding with the next order.

I would have no problem with a web based customer service interface, but I think you should somehow integrate it with this BBS. We should be able to go from our Private Message directly to our order history. If that were one option, if an e-mail didn't make it to our inbox, we would at least get a pop up while accessing the forum.

One question though, what percentage of your customers are also members of the forum?

In short integrate the BBS more into the business rather than just a marketing tool.

Edit: One more thought, how about a customer service section of the BBS? Actually seeing a bunch of gripes in public might not be good, but Dell does some of their CSR stuff on a message board.

You mean something like what "Amazon", has? That's fine with me.

(And keep a C.O.D. option)

I am probably the anti-techie, so that is my perspective. But as HGP mentioned, you may want to use Amazon as a model. Of all the websites that I use, I think Amazon's is by far the most intuitive and has the most seamless integration of features that allow someone to navigate and order off their site. I am constantly amazed at how successful Amazon has been at making their site and ordering system easy to use and how frustrating others, i.e. ebay, remain.

Do it Wayne. The web changes everything.

Less than you think. I estimate it to be about 30%. On the other hand, probably about 80% of long-time board members are customers...

-Wayne

Wayne,

Slightly off topic, but I've had two instances when I ordered parts from Pelican and I only received the items that were ready to ship immediately( I chose the option to ship whatever was available and the rest later). Never heard a peap about the rest of the order. The second time I emailed your customer service and they said the order looked complete and I should just reorder the parts I hadn't received. My email provider deletes my read email after a week so I didn't have anything to prove what I had originally ordered. I wasn't changed for any of the things I didn't get so it's not a major problem but you may be missing out on some sales. Just an FYI.

Mac

Spam blows. Whats funny as we in the states really start to implement the Anti-spam laws passed on the 1st of the year, we will be offshoring spammers also.

Don't give up on email yet, but it will get worse before it gets better.

the phone is PITA these days - imo. half the time it takes too long to get through, or you have to navigate 20 freakin menus, or you get held in a que for half an hour........

haven't got time for all that.

Kill the email - no problem. Phone calls suck, but I agree that they beat the chat.

I have things get lost in phone conversations all the time. I think the web form will be much better than email and it beats the phone any day. It should help keep the stress off your reps also.

Cheers, George

Yes, I am indeed aware of these issues - our warehouse software overhaul (slated for July/August) will address backorders in a much better manner than they are dealt with now.

-Wayne

I certainly hope so. Well, it looks like I will be definitely implementing this in the very near future...

-Wayne

As long as you continue to supply the same quaility of customer service and good prices, I don't care how I have to get to you. I remember the good old days 15 yrs ago, when it as next to impossible to get tech help on P-cars, short of a dealer (and $$$$). Thats why I parked my 72T for 12 yrs. Now, thanks to THIS BBS (tried many others) it is once again fun to play with my 72T. Just tell me how to order (I'm not a computer guy) and I will follow.
Terry Hastings

a web based interface is the best way to go if it is easy to work through . your current web order system is a good start . using your catalog and adding to cart ,then the checkout option with many different payment and shipping options gives people options . we all like options . so if you feel it will make it better , go for it . as far as your client base i live in florida . when it comes to the p car stuff i have searched far and wide to find parts . your company is by far the most dependable and on some items cheaper than local even with shipping . so keep up the good work as there will always be those that resist change .


"insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results " change is good!!!!!