American Express Customer Service Delights, by Making a Giant Brand Feel Small.

I felt compelled to write this post after a rather delightful and frankly unexpected customer experience this morning... me being the customer. If you want to be a breakaway brand these days, you've got to know that's it's all about the customer, right? You're reading stuff everywhere that's telling you customers are shaping brands, customers are driving product development and innovation, customers are driving everything! So it stands to reason that any brand's customer service that isn't up to snuff these days is going to suffer. Screw it up, and you're screwed. The blogosphere will snap it up and turn you and your customer service minions into monsters and pariahs within minutes. And if you're not paying someone to monitor all that stuff or doing it yourself, you'll be caught with your pants down feeling like you just got shelled by the Taliban - and for what? Just because your customer service isn't up to the Zappos Internet Standard of Excellence (okay, I made that up)?. Of course, if you don't know the Zappos story (bone up here before it's too late) and the reason they are indeed a standard for excellence in customer service, you're behind the eight ball anyway.

But enough of that, back to my delightful customer experience. Why was it unexpected? Because I was calling American Express. Now, I've been a Amex customer for twenty-three years, both personal and business. I've called them on a number of occasions and the service has been pretty good... but not delightful. But hey, they are a gigantohumongous company that's been around since the dawn of mankind. So you wouldn't really expect them to be delightful, and neither did I. This morning I actually had three different issues I had to deal with; one personal and two business. So I was expecting it to be a pain in the proverbial buttocks. Please don't think me hoity-toity, but the first thing I wanted to do was downgrade my Platinum card to a ego-shattering green one. I just can't justify the exorbitant annual fee anymore (although, if you use them, the benefits are phenomenal). Of course I figured that would require hours of explanation, negotiation and roadblocks. Next, I needed to get another Business Gold Card (to offset the ego-shattering downgrade of my personal card), and authorize my wife and business partner as an authorized user of the account - so I wouldn't have to call and deal with them ever again. Third, I needed to get the reward points I should have received for all the use my unauthorized wife had blessed Amex with on her card - about 300,000 of them, of which we were only getting credit for 25,000 (actual amounts may vary).

So you can understand my trepidation (there I go using a big word when a diminutive one would have sufficed) when I called. Here's what happened.

The automated voice menu system was outstanding and the voice recognition excellent. The "digital assistant's" rather sexy female voice actually sounded real; it even seemed like she liked me. Now that's technology that works! I'm thinking about calling back in the morning just to go through the menu again.

Anyway, it flawlessly took me to the first of three people I had to talk to to get all this done - not in twenty minutes as I or you might have expected, more like twenty seconds. The woman who answered was incredibly friendly, asking me how I was, acknowledging my tenure as a "member" and connecting me with a guy named Phillip who could help me dump my prized Platinum card. Phillip too was an absolute gem. Instead of trying to sell me off the switch, he never even questioned it - and we're talking $470 a year to Amex versus $65. Not a pittance if many other similarly financially-challenged in these trying times folks like me are doing the same thing. Regardless, no questions, no pressure and he got it done - in about three minutes! He then sent me on to the most friendly representative of all over on the business-side of things. She was so nice, I could have talked to her all day. She solved my business issues in about five minutes. I probably spent another two (because I knew I was being recorded) telling her what a spectacular experience it was for me. So really, from dialing the number to solving three separate issue took a grand total of about twelve minutes (including my kudos) and left me with a smile on my face.

Unexpected. Delightful. And that's the point of this rather long, but hopefully entertaining story. To be a break-away brand in this day and age, you have to deliver the unexpected. You have to delight your customers. Not just at the customer service level, at every level. I felt like I was talking to people at the little shop down the street. Their technology worked flawlessly and so did their people. American Express is stepping up to the plate. Is your company?

Comments

[Rick]

This is a perfect example of how companies can move their business forward through the use of customer services. Empowering employees is often the forgotten gateway to success.