Sometimes the the best service is no service, but better self-service

A link to Sun? Are you kidding?  Nope, not when it’s a reference to Guy Kawasaki and his interview with Bill Price, as they talk about the customer self-service experience…

There are a few people that immediately come to mind when you think of evangelism and customer service.  Guy Kawasaki is one of those folks, and in a special blog he has running on Sun’s site, Guy Kawasaki on Innovations, Guy recently spoke with Bill Price, Amazon.com’s first Global VP of Customer Service.

Guy’s regular digital stomping ground includes http://www.guykawasaki.com/ among others, and includes a reference to the interview with Price here.  Guy has a new web service, alltop.com — you must check out this new Internet “digital magazine rack” — and the company behind it, Nononina (what is this, some reference to the robot on the old Japanese anime Ulysses 31?), which is also behind another Guy site, truemors.com.

In short, Guy is just freakin’ everywhere, as always. 😉

Now, back to our regular programme.

Guy asked, “Why is “the best service is no service”?

“Customers don’t want to call their bank or email their online retailer if something’s confusing or if there’s an error–instead, everything should work perfectly in the first place… We need to reduce the rate of contacts by eliminating dumb contacts entirely, offering engaging self-service and being proactive, delivering great customer experiences when things do break down, and only then to deliver great customer experiences.”

And which were Price’s selections when asked what web sites are “good examples of self-service”?

“Alaska Airlines, Amazon, CheckFree, Citibank Card, eBay, First Direct, USAA, and Zappos are all doing a fine job in web-based self-service–what we like to call “engaging self-service” This requires that (a) customers don’t have to call or email or open a chat session to finish their order or ask about something; and (b) the companies listens to the customer’s requests and, if possible, eliminates the needs entirely.”

Read also his steps that a company can take to fix service problems in the full interview in the Sun blog, Guy Kawasaki on Innovation.

Tags: Guy Kawasaki, Customer Service, Bill Price.