After finally deciding that prayer and fatalism were not enough, I decided after a multi-year hiatus to venture back into the world of online backup services for my personal information. And since I've been a long-time, relatively happy AT&T and SBC customer, I thought I'd give AT&T Online Vault a try.
Sign-up was a breeze, and within minutes, I received an e-mail with an authorization code, and link for downloading the software I'd need to use the service. So I click on the link, and get an error message, asking for the authorization code, which I had, and something called an "Installer ID," which I did not have, or know anything about. Nor was it mentioned in the confirmation e-mail I received. The instructions accompanying the error message said I should find it in some "activation e-mail," but I have yet to receive one of those. And of course, leaving the Installer ID field blank didn't work.
So I called the phone number included with the error message instructions (always a useful touch), and within a few minutes, was told by a more-friendly-than-helpful "technical support" operator -- after he collected a bunch of information, including my physical address, for some reason -- that it would take "no more than 24 hours" to resolve my issue. See, he has to create a trouble ticket, then forward it to the technical support people who can actually do something, who would then have to figure out how best to send me a link to an installation download that will actually work for me. And then send it, of course.
After I got off the phone, on a whim, I decided to try e-mailing AT&T Online Vault, to let them know of my disappointing initial experience. Fortunately, the same e-mail that contained the support telephone number also contained a support e-mail address. Unfortunately, my attempt to send mail to that address bounced.
Relevant BPM Lessons:
1. Test everything that's customer-facing multiple times, under multiple configurations of real-life conditions. That includes all support-related contact information, such as telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. Don't assume everyone uses the same browser, the same type of PC, or even the same revision or modification of "the same" stuff. Do assume that a customer in the middle of a problem who gets bounced e-mails, busy signals, fax tones in response to voice calls, or no answers at all will not remain a customer for long.
2. Put basic system requirements in blindingly obvious places, preferably near wherever the decision to buy or try something gets made. This is especially true online and in e-mail, but applies equally to, for example, package inserts.
3. Empower first-line support personnel to be both friendly and helpful. For example, if they have caller ID, which "my" operator did, consider giving them address look-up, so they can simply confirm information I know they already have access to, rather than forcing me to give it to them.
All of the above is easily addressed with effective processes. And it can buy you customer goodwill you can't buy otherwise. Agreed? Disagreed? Either way, let me know!
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