The Subscriber Side #2:
  Pamper Me!

If you want my business, you're going to have to do better than just quick, reliable service. You've got to make it easy and pleasant to be your customer.

by Nelson King [July 14, 1999]

You can only do so much. Resources like time, money, and staff are always limited. Some details fall through the cracks. I understand this reality for ISPs.

But guess what: I don't care—especially when it comes to the details of customer service.

I call ISP-A for technical support (I needed a massive message removed from the queue). What I get is a telephone answering system with a menu that I follow three levels deep before I find out that I've got the wrong number for technical support. I dial technical support and, of course, get the answering system again. This time I need only go two levels into the menu, but they want my customer ID. After I hunt down a recent bill to get the number, I struggle to enter the mix of alpha and numeric characters. Once the ID is entered, I'm informed that the tech support department is "not available" and would I please leave a message and phone number.

At ISP-B, I get a real live person on the phone at the first try. She tells me the name of the tech support person on duty and makes the connection.

ISP-A has a web site that changes some content about every six months. It still features K56 Flex modem support (as if V.90 didn't exist yet), and doesn't explain anything about DSL service (although I know they offer it). ISP-B has a web site where content is changed more often than a baby's diaper. While I wouldn't call its coverage deep, at least it's updated with current services and tends to offer useful information.

Speaking of web sites, ISP-A allows 5MB for a subscriber's web site, B allows 6MB. No big difference. However ISP-A will send you instructions (yes, on paper) on how to upload files to your website. ISP-B has an online tutorial. Neither is fancy compared to providers like Earthlink that have online software to help customers create a web site.

ISP-A sends me a monthly bill. It's a crudely formatted 8.5 x 11 sheet that doesn't even have the company logo and phone number on it. That's all I ever see of this ISP. ISP-B, on the other hand, makes it possible to have the monthly charge placed on a credit card. They also send a monthly newsletter, usually running four or six pages, that keeps me about as informed as I'd care to be.

ISP A seems to believe that no subscriber will ever show up in person. It's one thing not to be rich and therefore have offices in an older building, but it's another to have offices that look like a slum. It also helps to have somebody greet the occasional visitor who can form complete sentences. ISP-B has a few small rooms in an old Victorian house. The offices looked well lived in but organized and the staff is downright loquacious.

Enough of the litany. Every subscriber can make his or her own list of comparisons—and they do. Neither of the two ISPs I dealt with is large. Both have staffs of fewer than eight and subscriber lists that run less than 15,000. Neither is low-balling their rates nor offering a wide range of other services. Needless to say, only one of them got my permanent business.

Why haven't I touched on reliable, fast service? I want that, of course. But let's face it; these days, just about every ISP delivers good service—within a very narrow range of prices. In this climate, customer-oriented details loom very large.

For me, loyalty to an ISP is based mostly on the brief, ephemeral contacts I have in dealing with the organization. Small outfits often have a lot of good will from their initial subscribers, but it won't withstand much abuse. Part of that good will lies in the expectation of more personal attention and a "we try harder" attitude.

So, it's probably worth whatever trouble it takes to remove the small rocks and smooth the little hard places. There are just too many other providers your customers can turn to.

—End

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