From Ross Hill – Cyberguru
26 very important words.
Category: internet
Cafe press & customer service
I recently ordered this most rad t-shirt on line from cafe press:
After a month it still hadn’t arrived. So slightly upset sent them through a note as below.
My email:
My order was meant to arrive between these times: Estimated Arrival: Monday 6/30/08 – Monday 7/7/08. But I am still yet to receive it and I am getting worried that It will never arrive. It is now 7/13/08 so it has been nearly a month! Can you please follow up for me. I am a first time cafe press customer and so far it hasn’t been a good experience.
1st cafe press response:
Dear Steve,
Thank you for contacting CafePress.com! This note is to inform you that we have received your inquiry and are assigning it to a representative. We respond to all email messages within 24 hours. If you do not receive an answer within 24 hours please call us toll-free at 1-877-809-1659 during our customer service hours Monday – Saturday 9:00 am to 9:00 pm EST.
To help track your inquiry we have generated the following reference number LTK419015882692X. Please use this number in any further communication.
2nd ‘real person’ cafe press response:
Dear Steve, I am sorry to hear you haven’t received your order. I checked and it is past the date it should have arrived. To make sure there are no further delays please confirm back with your correct shipping address. As soon as I get this information I will replace your order at no charge. I look forward to your reply.
If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know.
Best Regards, Crystal R.
A few things for startups to notice:
- Yes, it was an automated response, but a real living, breathing person got back to me within 24 hours. ‘We want to deal with real people.’ Only real people can respond to emotion.
-
They offered a toll free number for me to call on if a didn’t hear within 24 hours. All websites should have someone you can call.
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They advised they would replace the order, no questions & immediatly. They accepted fault.
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They included a link where I could rate there customer service even though, I was potentially an upset customer. No excuses, no hiding on their behalf.
In short, cafe press offered; guarantees, to fix the proble, they accepted fault, and started a feedback loop which has lead to great customer service, from a potentially negative situation. Now I’m blogging about a positive situation when it may well have been the opposite.
Webpreneurs – Be like cafe press.
Old media / new media
We all agree that media is changing – “ing”, not “ed”.
So it still makes sense to consider both options for our limited marketing and startup budgets.
So here’s a simple summary of each:
Old media
Costs a lot, but is really quick. Reaches people who might not have been looking for you. Leverages solid infrastructure so demands less human capital. But has a high wastage rate. Suits mass markets
New media
Usually free, and reaches those who are seeking you. Can be quick, but only for the lucky few who nail ideas people want to spread. Uses fragmented infrastructure so requires more man hours. Leaves a digital footprint and so effort compounds. Suits niches.
Until old & new media fully merge, we need to allocate budgets. But it’s also important we remember we can replace money with time when we are financially constrained.
Business bubbles, history & startups
Here’s a list of business bubbles you may / may not have heard of:
Tulip bubble – 1630’s tulip’s sold for more than houses!
South Sea Bubble – 1720
Bull market of 1920’s – resulted in the great depression
Japanese asset price bubble – Commercial real estate selling for US$1.5m per square meter!
Real estate bubble every 10 years or so… You’ve just lived through one!
Tech wreck (dot com)– Companies with negative cash flow valued over 1 billion!
Sub prime / hedge fund bubble 2008 – We’re yet to see all of this…
Green Marketing bubble ? – This one’s coming watch out!
Many business bubbles are focused in new industries where startups are abound.
Here’s when to get nervous. When you hear the words ’it’s different this time’, or people are overly focused on industry growth and the so called – revolution.
Here’s when there is no need to get nervous. When your business model based on basic business fundamentals like cashflow and growth in your net cash position. Startups take heed.
For 1000’s of years business and industries never grown much over 10% p.a. once compounded. Yes, there’ll be exceptions like Microsoft in the early 1980’s. But generally speaking when things are predicted to grow at rates above 20%, and valuations are more than 20 time earnings….get suspicious, very suspicious.
Innovation is quite forgiving
All twitter users know that it’s not the most reliable website out there. At the time of this post, it’s currently ‘down’ and gives you the message below:
2 things:
1. They told us about it before hand.
2. We forgive it, because we love it.
If you’re a ‘me too’, chances are your customers would be less forgiving. If you’re a new killer app, service or widget then the lesson is simple: Innovation is quite forgiving.
Launch now – improve later.
Ahead of their time
Here’s a meme from the Cluetrain Manifesto guys. It was written some 9 years ago and still rings true. The predictions herein are still evolving today, and yet some corporations still haven’t got it.
Start ups out there; invest 5 minutes with the ideas below, embrace them and you’ll be well ahead of the game.
[slideshare id=7027&doc=cluetrain-28722&w=425]
Fun parks and CBD’s
In reality there are two ways we can define websites. They’re either Fun Parks or Central Business Districts.
Startup blog definitions:
Fun park: A website which is primarily in existence for the entertainment of its users. A place to enjoy, socialize, have fun and waste time.
Central Business District (CBD): A website which has a commercial function from it’s inception and is essentially there to assist people in trade.
Examples of each include:
| Fun parks | CBD’s |
|
Youtube |
Ebay |
|
|
Paypal |
|
Flickr |
Amazon |
|
Hot or not |
Lulu |
Sure, there’s some overlap, but it’s the insights behind the two variants that matter.
Fun parks are ‘fun’. They’re easy to use and addictive in nature. They tend to spread quicker and go viral because there’s less risk. We’re not being asked to spend money, just enjoy the rides. So the fun park fills up quickly, gets popular and the owners monetize them by selling advertising billboards to all the eyeballs in the fun park. Eventually the park becomes overcrowded and people start to leave. They tend to have a rotating user base.
CBD’s are useful. Sometimes fun, but usually more serious and offer ‘value’. The commercial function is built in to the site, hence it doesn’t need to ‘monetize’ itself. People tend to investigate more, take longer to put their name down and join site. But once the do, they often become evanaglists and do the marketing for the site. They build more slowly, maybe take years, but usually end up with a more loyal user base. And rightfully end up more profitable. (profit as defined by yield)
Both are valid, both are evolving. If you’re a start up, it just pays to know which category you fit into.