COLUMNIST – CUSTOMER SERVICE
Be your own mystery shopper
IAN HUGHES says companies need to check
their offering to make sure everything works.
A few months ago, a magazine on the subscribe button and . . .
approached me from the error message.
Have you ever
happen to the best of us. While
writing this article I was
insurance industry to do a Bottom line, you can’t buy
mystery shopping piece about from this company, and they
tried calling your
considering whether I should go
to the DMDays show in New York
insurance companies. don’t like to make it easy to talk
company to see
this month. I went to the
For those new to this back to them! Imagine that, having a DMDNY website and clicked on
page, or who haven’t followed website where you can’t
how friendly the
‘exhibitors’ to see if I knew any
the Ian Hughes story, my subscribe and you can’t contact of them. Then I thought I would
company is a mystery shopping them to say you can’t subscribe! greeting is? check the agenda. A broken link.
company, which sort of focuses You know they look at the
on that market. So, the offer website regularly, because they
Think to yourself:
Arrgghh . . . !
We should know better, we
was interesting for us. will want to ensure everything
We worked hard on it for looks right in the work they have
‘Would, that be
couldknow better –but without
good testing and good mystery
about three weeks to collect the written. None of them have tried
data and turn it into an to subscribe or contact
OK if I was a
shopping we won’t know.
Another way to do it is to
interesting article of about 1,000 themselves via the site, though.
customer’?
look at the error messages
words. Having submitted it on Naturally, they will look at thrown up by your website . . .
time, things went quiet. After a the subscriber statistics and say, but who has the time for that?
few days I wrote to the ‘well, no subscriptions from the In the wonderful world of
magazine to see what the site this week; no-one ever marketing, we often spend so
feature editors thought. They subscribes’. Little do they know! much time thinking about the
wrote back saying they really The story doesn’t end there: look and feel of something that
wanted to name and shame the four times over six months I we completely, utterly forget the
bad companies, they weren’t wrote to them to tell them what execution. And the very people
interested in celebrating what was wrong. The site is still broken. who should really care about it
was good in the good seem to be blinded to it.
companies. Simple and uncomplicated If that insurance magazine
For me, that causes a What you have here is not doesn’t sell subscriptions,
problem; a public naming and something terribly complicated, someone is out of a job, but they
shaming is a bit like being a but a simple piece of mystery haven’t taken the trouble to
paparazzo, following stars shopping. In mystery shopping make sure the website is right.
around. I’d rather be a Hello! terms it is a Lowry: simple I can preach this lesson
magazine sort of mystery and uncomplicated. because I have failed at this,
shopper; it just feels classier. But when was the last time badly, so many times in my life.
So I said no and the article you ‘mystery shopped’ yourself? I have built so many
was spiked. You have got to hate When was the last time you websites where customers end
feature editors (with this checked out your own website, up frustrated and annoyed. It
esteemed magazine as the actually bought something from can often happen when you are
obvious exception. Clearly, DMI yourself or tried your customer rushing to get something done
is the Hello!of direct marketing service? Have you ever tried and, as a result, you forget
magazines!). calling your company to see how the details.
I found it annoying, so I friendly the greeting is? In a world full of rich
thought I would write to the Seriously, next time you call communications, people just
editor. The best way to find the your office think to yourself, expect the web to work. If I have
editor is to go to the website ‘would that be OK if I was a choice of buying from you or
and look under ‘contact’, right? a customer?’. your competitor and your
Well, when I went to the site, When you have a website isn’t working, well guess
it gave me an error message complicated system and process where I am going!
when I did that. So, I thought I it is easy for things to fall over; When was the last time
would go in through the it’s easy for mistakes to happen. you gave your own website a
subscription route. After all, the But these sorts of mistakes good kicking?
whole point of publishing a are unforgivable. It’s bad for a
Ian Hughes, managing director,
magazine is to get people to little back street insurance Consumer Intelligence. Email:
subscribe, isn’t it? Well, I clicked industry magazine, but it can
ianh@consumerintel.com
50 June 2009 www.dmi-news.com
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