The 10 Commandments of eService

Old Testament service commandments contain eternal verities such as "Thou shalt adhere to the law of the queue." (I.e., other things being equal, first come-first served should be the rule for selecting customers waiting in line for service.). "Thou shalt have all thy employees who are visible to thy customer working for thy customer." (Maintain a customer focus.) And "Thou shalt challenge every tangible feature of thy service--thy facility, thy signage, thy workers robes, thy written documents--and eliminate those which are schlocky." (Manage the evidence of service.)

The wide use of the Internet, while not vitiating the Old Testament service commandments (I did call them "eternal verities," after all), calls for a new set of principles. These "New Testament commandments" must take into account the lack of the customer's physical presence in the service system and of course, the unique capabilities and limitations of the web. Ten of these new commandments are as follows.

1. THOU SHALT DESIGN THY WEB AS A PLEASANT PATH, NOT A MAZE.

Too many web businesses make navigation through a web site like a trip through a maze--dead ends, endless backtracking, and my personal negative "favorite", the "out the portal" logout. Here, you link to some page and the only way to get back is to quit the web site and start over. Some time this is initiated through a innocent click to a hyperlink, giving rise the psychological malady, "hyperlink hypertension."

2. THOU SHALT RENDER UNTO AOL THAT WHICH IS AOL'S, AND RENDER UNTO SPRINT THAT WHICH IS SPRINT'S.

A fundamental question facing any service business, even dot.com companies, is how much to rely on the Internet and how much to rely on the phone in their customer interactions. You can't develop a good service strategy unless you have resolved this question. The decision should be more than "belt and suspenders" safety. It should be tied into customer segmentation strategy and what makes sense for the customer.

Merrill Lynch finally got around to going on line once even its big clients made it clear that they wanted this low touch service. Banks are still trying to figure out the most effective contact portfolios - a problem that is confounded by having to throw brick and mortar branches into the mix.

3. THOU SHALT PERMIT THY CUSTOMER TO RETURN HIS RAIMENT OR OTHER CHATTEL WITHOUT PAIN.

Ever tried to return anything you bought off the Internet? Few companies make it as easy as Old Testament star, Nordstrom who features an easy return policy: "Here's all you do:

Place your return items in the labeled envelope included with your order. Leave it by your mailbox for your postal carrier." Most other mail order houses promise complete satisfaction, but don't provide anything to help with this odious chore.

A corollary commandment is to "guarantee thy web service." That is, if you promise to ship, email, phone, or otherwise carry out an action for the customer in a timely fashion, provide suitable compensation if you can't deliver on that promise. This is tough for many companies, but as Federal Express and Domino's found out years ago, a service guarantee is a powerful tool for getting and keeping customers.

4. THOU SHALT MONITOR THY THIRD PARTY FULFILLMENT PARTNER AND DISPATCH WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE THOSE WHO DO NOT GET WITH THY PROGRAM.

Third party fulfillment can mean anything a retailer outsources: warehouses, site design and hosting, monitoring of site traffic, order processing, and so on. These fulfillment firms usually branch out from whatever originally got them involved with your company. Soon they're acquiring (or being acquired by) other companies and maybe even subcontracting your work!

5. THOU SHALT ESCHEW OBFUSCATION OF THY SERVICE PRACTICES.

Make the actions required to complete the service understandable or even better, intuitive to the customer. This means developing a logical taxonomy of web pages, avoiding jargon, and having a consistent approach across all parts of the organization.

6. THOUSHALTNOTCLUTTERTHYWEBPAGESUCHTHATTHY
CUSTOMERCANNOTREADITWITHOUTGOINGTHROUGHALL
SORTSOFGYRATIONS.

Try analyzing company performance data provided through your broker's web site. If you have to go through a routine of screen gymnastics just to read a description of what your company does, you have an idea of the clutter problem I am talking about. I know I ought to be able to click here, view there, easily--I can do this in a flash--but why should I feel inept if I can't?

7. THOU SHALT BENCHMARK THE BEST TRADESMEN IN THY BUSINESS AND BEYOND.

Forrester Research provides benchmarking scores for such items as responsiveness to email and call center inquiries, download time, delivery performance, etc., including major categories of Business to Customer web sites. The Gartner Group and The Industry Standard also provide hard data on performance of web businesses. Testing the Internet: Developing an eService Strategy, an Institute of Customer Service also provides survey results that are also useful for benchmarking (www.instcustserv.com).

8. THOU SHALT AFFIX CALL-BACK BUTTONS TO THY WEB SITE AND BESTOW HONOR UPON THOSE WHO ANSWER THEM WELL.

Even though email is available in virtually every web site, people need real live people to talk to. For many low-tech customers, good service is good handholding. Old Testament phone-based businesses such as QVC and Land's End excel at this, and provide models for dot.com companies to follow.

9. THOU SHALT STICK THY DISMOUNT FROM THY WEB ENCOUNTERS.

Research in cognitive psychology has shown that customers apply inordinate weighting to the ending stage of service encounters. Thus, it makes sense to provide a memorable feature such as discount or a trinket, or at least a big "thank you" at the end of the transaction.

10. THOU SHALT AFFIRM TO ALL AND SUNDRY THAT THOU ARE FIRST AND FOREMOST IN THE SERVICE BUSINESS AND THY INTERNET IS BUT THY MEANS TO DELIVER THY SERVICE.

This is affirmation is meant in equal measure for employees as well as customers. Good service requires a dedicated workforce: it cannot be achieved by faith alone. Old Testament research into service effectiveness has shown that there is a strong correlation between employee motivation and satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction, in turn, and not surprisingly, leads to repeat business, positive word of mouth, and increased profitability. Even in the automated systems that characterize the Internet, there must be competent staff available, often on a 24/7 basis to make certain that the virtual becomes real for the customer.

An invitation to the congregation: If you have an eService commandment that you have found to be virtuous, or if you have one that you pray will be adopted by Internet companies, please send it to me (Rchase@marshall.usc.edu).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Chase is the Justin Dart Professor of Operations Management in the Marshall School of Business at USC. Two of his Harvard Business Review articles, "Where Does the Customer Fit in a Service Operation?" and "The Service Factory" have been cited as classics.

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