Customers assisting customers
Discussion
Despite really enjoying life in the deep South and red-neck America, I still maintain my last bastion of English civilization; Whittard's tea. There is one particular blend I enjoy and I have been ordering it in reasonable quantities and having friends and family bring it over at regular intervals when a tea-top-up is required.
I have some family coming to stay in a few weeks so went on the website to order. I found a pop up from the bottom right hand corner. After dismissing it a couple of times - I don't need help, although I do get sidetracked looking at stuff in their sale - I notice that this box is not a normal chat box. Instead it is an anonymous instant messaging service between customers who can ask each other questions when needing help with products/site/ordering/delivery.
This did annoy me, I have to say!
Now, I know customers have always helped customers on forums - but generally people have had to hunt this out. They don't have it rammed down their throat on every page of the website. It looked to me like trying to take advantage of customers to reduce their support staff spend.
Is this a new thing that is going to be everywhere? I hope not!
I have some family coming to stay in a few weeks so went on the website to order. I found a pop up from the bottom right hand corner. After dismissing it a couple of times - I don't need help, although I do get sidetracked looking at stuff in their sale - I notice that this box is not a normal chat box. Instead it is an anonymous instant messaging service between customers who can ask each other questions when needing help with products/site/ordering/delivery.
This did annoy me, I have to say!
Now, I know customers have always helped customers on forums - but generally people have had to hunt this out. They don't have it rammed down their throat on every page of the website. It looked to me like trying to take advantage of customers to reduce their support staff spend.
Is this a new thing that is going to be everywhere? I hope not!
is it any different to Amazon's customer reviews / questions / etc. where you are emailed by Amazon to answer questions their other prospective clients have...?
from a business perspective while there is some risk (a disgruntled client could have disproportionate influence), there is a good concept in getting your customers doing your work for you!
from a business perspective while there is some risk (a disgruntled client could have disproportionate influence), there is a good concept in getting your customers doing your work for you!
akirk said:
is it any different to Amazon's customer reviews / questions / etc. where you are emailed by Amazon to answer questions their other prospective clients have...?
from a business perspective while there is some risk (a disgruntled client could have disproportionate influence), there is a good concept in getting your customers doing your work for you!
I agree - if you can have customers do the work for you, then great! If I could have my paying customers do the work of other paying customers for me, it'd be amazing!from a business perspective while there is some risk (a disgruntled client could have disproportionate influence), there is a good concept in getting your customers doing your work for you!
The difference between this and Amazon is that on Amazon, you have to seek out the section of the site to answer questions about the product, or interact with an e-mail that probably gets deleted. On Whittard's, it is shoved down your throat with an overbearing popup on every page while interrupting the shopping flow on the site.
I also note that they appear to have removed as many locations of their contact information on the website as possible making it extremely tough to find (found their number on a previous e-mail instead). And when you call, it took several minutes for someone to answer the phone.
I guess the other possibility is that the company is going down the pan and they are cost cutting wherever they can.
Edited by The Moose on Monday 19th August 15:00
Fonzey said:
Amazon have this on most listings now an 9 times out of 10 it's completely useless.
Q: Hi, could you tell me whether this works with Google Home please?
A: Dunno
Q: Hi, could you tell me whether this works with Google Home please?
A: Dunno
That's because people are sent an email asking them to help someone out so they feel obliged to answer (if they don't have much of a brain).
The Moose said:
I agree - if you can have customers do the work for you, then great! If I could have my paying customers do the work of other paying customers for me, it'd be amazing!
The difference between this and Amazon is that on Amazon, you have to seek out the section of the site to answer questions about the product, or interact with an e-mail that probably gets deleted. On Whittard's, it is shoved down your throat with an overbearing popup on every page while interrupting the shopping flow on the site.
I also note that they appear to have removed as many locations of their contact information on the website as possible making it extremely tough to find (found their number on a previous e-mail instead). And when you call, it took several minutes for someone to answer the phone.
I guess the other possibility is that the company is going down the pan and they are cost cutting wherever they can.
It's 1 click from homepage to find a single page that has a contact form, email address, domestic and international phone numbers and homepage link. That's best practice.The difference between this and Amazon is that on Amazon, you have to seek out the section of the site to answer questions about the product, or interact with an e-mail that probably gets deleted. On Whittard's, it is shoved down your throat with an overbearing popup on every page while interrupting the shopping flow on the site.
I also note that they appear to have removed as many locations of their contact information on the website as possible making it extremely tough to find (found their number on a previous e-mail instead). And when you call, it took several minutes for someone to answer the phone.
I guess the other possibility is that the company is going down the pan and they are cost cutting wherever they can.
Edited by The Moose on Monday 19th August 15:00
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