At work, I replied to the half-dozen readers who wrote in to complain about a large advertisement on our site. (Turns out that our use of cookies to limit its frequency meant that the audience most likely to be annoyed was also the audience most likely to see the ad more than intended. But that’s not the point.)
The most interesting part of the dialogue is how amazed and pleased the readers are to get a real reply, from a real human being. Makes me think that reaching a human at most websites goes beyond difficult to unbelievably rare… otherwise, why the surge of gratefulness?
I love ‘talking’ to customers. Support doesn’t pay as well, so I’ll continue only to dabble, but it’s always interesting. In a medium where you can’t ‘see’ your customer, those times when they reach out to tell you something — even something you don’t want to hear — grab you. I also believe that these small gestures in response make all the difference in the world in reinforcing a promise: we’re here, we’re not going away, and someone is accountable. Living up to even those basic standards isn’t always easy, but with overall standards seemingly scraping bottom, you can really stand out with small actions.