Can Support Ever Shine? - The Context S04E13

Why is it that so many of us have negative experiences with customer support in some organizations? They don't realize that those experiences can fundamentally taint the ability of enjoying the products and services that otherwise we would keep using for a much longer time. Is it possible to evolve support services, and an organizational culture that incentivizes a dependable, high quality behavior on the side of those providing the service and a consequently radically superior experience for the customers themselves.

As an example, just a few days ago I had a very bad experience; I have been using a specific hosting provider for dozens of websites, and a few of these have been infected. As an emergency response, the hosting provider suspended my entire account, including the websites that were not infected, rather than undergoing the process of cleaning and restoring everything which would have been faster. It was almost two days that I had to fight over the course of almost a dozen technical support calls and technical support chats, sometimes simultaneously juggling one against the other, until I was finally able to have them turn the account back up again, thanks also to my team.

What is amazing is that if you search online for the best hosting service in 2021 they are in first place. Is it because their search engine optimization is very good? Is it because the review process of these recommendations is itself bad? I don't know, but when I am dealing with an organization, especially a service organization my question is not how does everything go when everything goes well, my question is “What do you do when something goes wrong? How fast, reliable and intensively their support helps a customer?”

A solution, in my opinion, is a combination of smart routing and application of rules, of better incentives on all sides, together with common sense and going beyond the rules when those don't, and should not apply. Knowing what the rules are that you should break is always an important question, and having the ability and the authority and the courage to make those decisions are door openers to new possibilities.