Standing Out From The Crowd

Here are two examples in the opposite side of the Customer Experience spectrum:

The first one was pointed out today by Seth Godin in his blog and is a perfect case of holding a grudge against your customers without learning how to deal with them. At the “Four Paws Design” website, an oblivious customer may find the following FAQ:

“Unfortunately, we can no longer take phone orders. Customers forget to tell us something and after the order is placed and processed, they claim we wrote down incorrect information. By placing an order online, we have a record of exactly what you want, especially for custom-designed items, leaving no room for error.”

I think I don’t even need to go as far as reminding the “customer is always right” cliché. It’s enough to observe that no company should be arrogant to the point of believing that they are NEVER wrong.

The second example I saw commented in the Signal vs. Noise Blog and shows how far a company can go to be remarkable to their customers. HP is launching a new feature for its digital cameras: An Instant Digital Diet! (At least on your pictures.)

I will not discuss the moral or ethic implications of their ad, but one has to appreciate the lengths they seem to go to be innovative and customer-centric.

Well, if nothing else, at least is food for thought…