Customer Service

04 Dec A Tale of Two TikToks: How Ocean Spray and Sherwin-Williams Reacted to Going Viral

Posted by: Jon Frisch

During the holiday season, it’s hard not to think about “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens’ famous story about the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge, but high school honors English students are probably also familiar with his novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” In the social media sphere,...

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12 Aug Newsweek’s Top Ranked Customer Service Companies in 2020

Posted by: WebPunch

In 2019, Newsweek began its annual collaboration with Statista, an online data and statistics company, to collect information and produce its annual list of top-rated businesses for customer service. Each year, the survey is given to more than 20,000 customers in the United States and...

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12 Jul How to Improve Your Customer Service Skills

Posted by: Matthew Van Deventer

“If you build it, they will come,” that famous line spoken by Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams may have brought about success for his character, but it doesn't always work out so well for businesses across the board. You can have the best product or store in the world, but if you haven't filled your company with employees well-versed in amazing customer service, people won't be lining up for your product. There’s an ice cream shop by my house that has decent ice cream, but my first thought is always, “Aw man, I have to deal with the team who scoops the ice cream.” They aren’t mean people but they always act as though they have somewhere else to be. We go there anyway because it’s the closest local ice cream shop around. I keep trying to convince my wife, a former New York City pastry chef and ice cream maker, that we need to open one up . . . then we’ll have ice cream for life!

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12 Jun VIDEO: Do You Treat All Your Customers the Same?

Posted by: Matt Jones

Welcome to another episode of WebPunch's School of Online Reputation Management. It's early summer, things are hot. I'm your host, Matt Jones, here to drop some knowledge. I'm here to discuss a little bit of a topic that most business owners are pretty sensitive to, and that's customers. How many of you have said, "Oh, we treat our customers like family. Every customer is treated the same." I know some of you do, so don't lie. I know that we do that, and it reminds me of that show, "Cheers." You guys remember that? Okay. I know I'm really old, and I've got wrinkles and Millennials have no idea what I'm talking about. But there was a show called "Cheers." It was about a bar where regulars would come and interact with the staff. There was all sorts of shenanigans. But the point was, over time, you know, they became like family. And that's how it is with some customers. Some customers you like more than others. Now I know we at WebPunch have never had a customer that we didn't like...

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26 Apr Sexual Lubricants and Amazon’s Customer Experience

Posted by: Matthew Van Deventer

Picture this: Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com “glides” into a vigorous pace around the circumference of an executive boardroom table on the top floor of the Seattle-based Amazon Headquarters. It’s a little gloomy outside but on the top floor it doesn’t matter because the view, displayed in clear glass completely encompassing the room, is always remarkable.

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20 Apr What do Netflix, FedEx, and Chick-fil-a have in common? Customer Experience

Posted by: Matthew Van Deventer

Customer experience has one meaning: It’s the interaction between a brand and a customer. And for the most part, businesses large and small want a similar outcome from their customer service experience. They want to put a smile on their customers’ faces, send them home happy, make sure they come back again, and get them to tell their friends and their friends’ moms.

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20 Feb Cashier-less Amazon Go Store Hits Customer Experience Mark

Posted by: Matthew Van Deventer

QUICK FACTS: Amazon Go Open Date: January 22, 2018 Size: 1,800 square feet Location: 2131 7th Avenue Seattle, Washington Hours: 7AM-9PM, Monday-Friday Technology Used: Computer vision, deep learning algorithms, sensor fusion Beta Version Open Date: December 5th, 2016 (It was built in Amazon’s Day 1 building, or Amazon Tower II, and only open to employees.) Why: “We asked ourselves what if we could create a shopping experience with no lines and no checkout? Could we push the boundaries of computer vision and machine learning to create a store where customers could simply take what they want and go? Our answer to those questions is Amazon Go and Just Walk Out Shopping.” -Amazon Go FAQ

Imagine walking into a store, shopping to your heart’s content, and then leaving. What’s missing? Mostly cashiers and lines. No money is exchanged in-store. Put your chosen items right into your backpack (We know, we’d feel like we were stealing, too!). Don't want that item you took off the shelf? Put it back! Don’t worry, you won’t be charged. There’s no standing in line with three items, waiting for someone to check out with a whole cart-full—there’s no standing in line in general! Sounds like a sci-fi flick, right? Walk in. Walk out. That’s pretty much the model for the new Amazon Go store that opened up in January this year. No lines, no wait, no checkout—a shopper’s dream come true. At 1,800 square feet, it’s a small retail store—a bodega or convenient store—that dishes out fresh, ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, many of which are made in-house. People can also buy grocery staples like milk, bread, artisan cheeses, coffee, and locally made items like chocolate. Very affordable ready-to-make, boxed meals, similar to Hello Fresh or Blue Apron, are also on the shelves. You can even get the usual junk foods sold at convenience stores. And there’s a small section where you can buy alcohol, with a human on guard checking I.D.s. According to the store’s FAQ website, it relies on computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusion; the technology used in driverless cars. All you need is an Amazon account (of course!) and a fairly up-to-date iPhone or android smartphone. When customers walk in they scan their phone at one of the sort of subway-turnstile looking kiosk blocks at the front of the store, put their phones away, shop, and leave when they have everything you want. If you take something from the shelf, it’s queued up on your phone. Put it back and it’s taken off the queue. When you’re done shopping, just leave and your total is deducted through your Amazon account.

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01 Dec The Customer is Not Always Right (VIDEO)

Posted by: Matt Jones

"The customer is always right." These words were said famously by Harry Gordon. Is the customer always right? I don't think so. I'm Matt Jones, your professor of WebPunch's School of Online Reputation and today, we're going to be talking about your employees and how to make them happier. And why, sometimes, that customer just is flat-out wrong.

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03 Oct Nordstrom: Reaching New Levels of Customer Experience

Posted by: Matthew Van Deventer

Nordstrom is getting weird! In a good way, that is. The upscale clothing store is experimenting with ways to cater to the growing trend of people buying their stuff online, while still providing the superior customer experience that they're known for. One recent test was with the launch of a Nordstrom Local store, the first of which popped up in Hollywood last September. It could be just what the company needs to stay relevant and ahead of its competition in an arena that is constantly changing.

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