An interesting new book by Bill Price -- the former VP of Customer Service at Amazon.com -- as interviewed by Guy Kawasaki:

Customers don't want to call their bank or email their online retailer if something's confusing or if there's an error--instead, everything should work perfectly in the first place. A recent survey cited 75% of CEOs proclaiming that their companies provide above average customer service, yet almost 60% of customers said that they were "somewhat to extremely dissatisfied" with their most recent customer service experience.

Almost a tautology... if everything worked perfectly we wouldn't need customer service... therefore the best option is to never have it... erm... hookay.

Seriously tho, he has a point. If the goal is amazing customer satisfaction, then all departments need to work together to achieve it. From the developer's perspective, we knew very few people read the documentation or run proof-of-concepts, so support calls were inevitable. Unfortunately, we saw this as inevitable, and became cynical...

Customer:  My software doesn't work right after I patched it!
Developer: Did you read the 'readme.txt' for the patch? Its a whole whopping 3 pages long.
Customer:  No...
Developer: Call support.

In retrospect, I now realize that all it would take is a tiny adjustment to massively improve the customer experience: make documentation that is enjoyable to read, or make it brain dead easy to whip out a test box or a proof-of-concept. Naturally, doing either of those had their own internal political implications... so its needs to be a goal that everybody agrees to. Development, documentation, support, consulting, marketing, and sales.

When you think you might be off track, just ask yourself this question: How does this help our customers kick ass? That should set you right again... (Hat tip: Kathy Sierra)

Most companies actually haven't done the math to deliver Best Service because Best Service is always cheaper--or they do the wrong math. It's not just "cost of making bad or confusing product compared to a good product versus associated cost of service." ... Mobile phone companies don't even want you to know what you are really paying and invented new math: "$200 free calls on your $50 a month plan", but it's much more complex even than that when you read the small print. On the other hand, MCI in the old days, and Telstra today, analyze call pattern and then call their customers to recommend a LOWER-rate plan. That's we like: being proactive, a core part of Best Service.

*pffft!* *cough!* Excuse me while I wipe the tea off my monitor...

Holy crap, a cell phone company that helps their customers spend less on their calling plan? At first, this sounds crazy... Like any company that followed it would lose margins and go out of business. But would they? These days cell phone companies are trying desperately to retain customers. A tiny bit of goodwill like this can go a long way towards brand loyalty. Save them $5 per month, and they'll probably stick around for another year.

Similarly, when Amazon is unable to deliver a product when it originally promised, it sends out an "I'm Sorry" email, allowing the customer to cancel their order. They suggest that if the person absolutely needs it right away, they should cancel the order, and buy from someone else. Very few people cancel... but they all became more loyal customers.

Naturally, this book is better for business-to-customer interactions, and probably less for business-to-business... but a compelling read.