Is your website designed to be helpful to you or your customers? Make sure you know the difference!
By Steve Moran
I have an HP Spectre Computer I bought in a panic when I was on a week-long trip and left my computer home. It has been a pretty good computer, except that the solid state memory crashed and I had to spend a few hundred dollars replacing it. Now it is old, travel weary and needs replacing.
I thought about getting another one and went to Best Buy — a place that really does get customer service — and when I told them I needed a terabyte of memory they suggested I try the HP site since it was not something they carry.
I Tried . . . I Really Did
I went to the HP site and found the Spectre computer series. I think I figured out they don’t make the configuration that I want, but I still don’t know. So I figured I would do the online chat thing, except they wanted a whole bunch information including my name, email, and phone number.
And then . . .
they wanted to know what I wanted to buy, which I guess I sort of understand, but the reason I wanted to talk to them was that I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to buy.
I Gave Up
I went to the Microsoft website, got totally enamored by the Surfacepad Pro computers and proceeded to spend way more than I probably should have. It could have been HP’s money I am pretty sure . . . except they built a website that was designed to be helpful to them and not their customers.
How Is Your Website? . . . Better Question: How Is Your Customer Service?
I have spent a lot of time looking at senior living websites and Facebook pages and some are clean and pretty and some are kinda ugly. I also have discovered that some of the slickest looking websites belong to companies and communities that are not doing so well with occupancy and some of the less attractive websites belong to very successful companies and communities.
This is not really an article about websites, it is really a story about customer service. The big question that too often gets missed is what makes for a great experience for the customer. I walked away from the HP line, which might have actually been a smarter choice because they did not really think about the customer experience.
I spent more than I should on my SurfacePro because yes, Microsoft offered a computer that fit my needs but they also made it insanely easy to buy that computer.
How Is Your Customer Experience?
The whole point of this article is to ask: Are you actually helping customers find the answers to their questions about senior living? Are you making it easy or hard for them to find those answers? This is such a hard thing to evaluate, because, at the end of the day, it is hard for us to put ourselves in the consumers postion. What seems simple and obvious to them may not be so simple or obvious to them.
In August, Denise Scott and I are planning on holding three, intimate, one-day round tables where we will work on figuring out what the perfect customer experience in senior living should look like. If you would like an invite, fill out the “No Obligation” form below – Yes I know, it seems a bit hypocritical to ask for your contact information after complaining that HP is doing the same thing. Except that . . . I think this is different . . . or maybe you will tell me I am a total hypocrite:
Tell me more about the round table discussions . . .
