I am trying to place an order online for duplicating a video of a speech I did. I am on a roll – great speech, happy audience, excellent videography, nice DVD, great label design, simple order process – and ready to press the “Submit Order” button when a little red note pops up admonishing me to submit a single layer DVD only because they can’t duplicate multi-layer DVDs. I have no idea how to tell if my disc is single layer! Screeching to a halt, I wonder how to get an answer to my question.

I click on the Help button. It reveals chat, email, and phone options. Good! I like options.

The chat option promises service beginning at 8:00 am EST.  I’m in luck; it’s 7:55 am. But instead of waiting, I send an email. 

Now it’s 10:30 am. I have not received a response from the email yet and the chat option just brings up an email window with the explanation that chat is unavailable at this time. The promise of service beginning at 8:00 am was an empty promise. I am exceedingly disappointed. It shouldn’t be this hard to spend my money!

What lessons have you learned today?

Lesson #1: Don’t trip the customer just as she approaches the finish line! Unless your product is totally unique and valued, you can’t risk creating frustration that might drive customers away. Make the order process smooth and easy from the beginning to the very end.

Lesson #2: Don’t make empty promises! An empty promises is worse than no promise at all. Disappointing the customer is bad enough. Appearing unreliable and out-of-control is even worse. It isn’t easy to build trust and one dashed promise can break it in a split second. That doesn’t mean you should not make promises. Customers deserve to know what to expect. Make reasonable promises and then meet customer expectations.

Anything less is a “Lip Service Innovation”

I’ll let you know if the chat window ever opens!