Todd Hollander Market Research

After standing me up twice (see “Comcast drops the ball again“), Comcast finally sent a technician Friday evening to repair my cable television service. The whole ordeal, while enormously frustrating, has also been educational. Here is what I learned…

1. Comcast is making an effort to become a customer-centric company

You may wonder how I can make such a statement given my experience, but here’s the thing: I found no lack of Comcast employees who were embarassed, apologetic, and willing to intervene. In fact, I received repeated calls from personnel in the Comcast corporate office and the local executive office, several of whom offered their direct phone numbers and even their mobile numbers. One even posted an apology on this blog.

So the problem was not a lack of concern but a lack of power. On two occasions a concerned Comcast employee was unable to circumvent the bottleneck of someone considerably lower in the pecking order: the dispatchers and service technicians.

This suggests that:

2. The shift to customer-centricity is occurring from the top down

In other words, Senior Management is driving the change down through the organization. This is a good thing, because without the buy-in of senior executives, meaningful change in the corporate culture is virtually impossible (see “How to develop a customer-centric business model“).

Unfortunately:

3. It is not a concerted effort

It appears that the cultural change has not yet flowed to the bottom of the corporate pyramid. The vibe I got from the technicians I met felt similar to the one given off by the folks who work at the post office: high job security with little or no incentive for doing more than the least that is expected. If I’m right, and the most customer-facing employees are the most averse to change, this may to be a tough nut to crack.

The bottom line: I sense that Comcast is making significant changes but there is much work yet to be done.

My satisfaction with Comcast digital cable was extremely short-lived. After a maddening ordeal trying to order the service (see “Ordering from Comcast - Like a visit to the proctologist“), I was finally able to get the service installed (see “Comcast corrects problem“). Unfortunately, the cable box they installed stopped working the very next day.

So I called Comcast and scheduled a service call. When the repairman neither showed up nor called on the scheduled day, I called Comcast again. They told me someone at the company had canceled the service call without noting any reason or explanation. The Customer Service agent was very apologetic and took ownership of the problem. She even called me back the next morning to say that she had rescheduled the service call for Friday between 11:00 and 2:00 and that she would personally monitor the ticket to ensure that it was completed.

Well, it’s now after 2:00 on Friday and you can probably guess the rest of the story. Yup - no repairman; no phone call. So I called Comcast. Guess what they said? “Looks like someone at our company canceled the appointment, but they didn’t log a reason for the cancellation.” Second time in a week I’ve been stood up by Comcast. The Customer Service rep let me hold while he typed a letter to the dispatcher requesting an explanation for the cancellation. He said someone would call me this afternoon.

The saga continues…

My friend Bill Neal, Founder of SDR Consulting, recently coauthored a book with Ron Strauss, founder of Brandzone LLC, titled Value Creation: The Power of Brand Equity. In a recent note announcing the publication of the book, Bill says:

“With this book we have tried to accomplish three key objectives:

1. Define brand equity in a new and totally measurable way and demonstrate how brand equity is the key driver of total brand value. We provide a detailed measurement model of brand value and brand equity. Then we show how to use the Brand Value Model to focus management actions that can dramatically increase the asset value of the firm.
2. We argue that by orienting corporate leadership to focus on building the asset value of their brands, they establish a new framework for allocating resources in the most efficient manner possible for building corporate asset value and stockholder returns.
3. We demonstrate how “brand” and the values it stands for can and should become the main organizing principle for the firm. We call it Values Driven Management. We believe that Values Driven Management is a critical concept that will enable leaders and managers to compete effectively and profitably in the emerging knowledge-based environment of the 21st century.”

Value Creation: The Power of Brand Equity is a valuable resource for executives and stakeholders who want to better understand and manage their firm’s brands. You can get more information on the book, including the Introduction, Chapter 1, and a synopsis of all the chapters at www.newvaluecreation.com.

I recently wrote about a frustrating experience trying to place an order with Comcast for high speed internet and digital cable television (”Ordering from Comcast - Like a visit to the proctologist” - March 12, 2008). Within 24 hours of that post, I received a call from the Comcast corporate office apologizing for the problem and seeking to resolve it (”Comcast admits mistake” - March 18, 2008). Yesterday, the company installed the new services and waived one of the fees.

Here’s what I learned from the experience:

• This blog afforded me an opportunity unavailable to most disgruntled customers: a bully pulpit to publicly declare my dissatisfaction and win the attention of someone who could do something about it.
• When dissatisfied as a customer, I should always consider taking action rather than suffering in silence.
• Although Comcast has much room for improvement in delivering a customer-centric order/upgrade experience, in my case they were willing to acknowledge the problem and take effective steps to remedy it.
• High-speed cable internet access is much faster than DSL. As in: lightning fast ; no comparison; way better.

So at least for today, I have blazing internet access and on-demand television. Life is good. Maybe even “comcastic.”

In a recent post, I wrote about a terrible experience I had trying to place an order with Comcast for high speed internet and digital cable television. Within 24 hours of publishing that report, I received a call from the Comcast corporate office. The caller said he saw the blog entry, apologized for the problem, and offered his assistance to resolve it. He took some information and told me that I would receive a call from the local Comcast office shortly.

The next day I received the call from the local office. The woman identified herself as Mrs. Callahan. She did this twice, never offering a first name. Maybe its just me, but I find this form of address stilted and off-putting, particularly when the addressee is attempting to right a wrong. Nonetheless, Mrs. Callahan gathered some info and promised to call me back in a few minutes. When she called back, she offered to waive the $17.95 “upgrade fee” for my order and offered an installation date two business days later (a full week sooner than the earliest date offered when I tried to order the installation online).

Today is that day. The time: between 11:00 and 2:00. I’ll keep you posted.

Today I tried to place an order with Comcast for high speed internet and digital cable television. What should have been a simple transaction was anything but easy. Here’s how it went…

1. As an existing customer, I logged into the Comcast website using my username and password.
2. After negotiating a fairly cumbersome order process (selecting a service bundle, leasing a modem, and scheduling installation), I was taken to a live chat where a Customer Service Representative was to complete my transaction.
3. The chat session did not support my Firefox web browser, so having already invested 10 to 15-minutes into the ordering process…
4. I had to redo the entire transaction with another browser.
5. I was again taken to the live chat session to complete the transaction. Here is the actual transcript from the chat:

chat id : 7ef71f40-5d5b-4183-b670-467969b02ba3

Problem : Order Information

Arnel.24970 > Hello Todd_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Arnel.24970. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Arnel.24970 > Welcome to Comcast. We are very happy to provide service for you.

Arnel.24970 > Todd, are you a new or existing Comcast customer?

Todd_ > existing

Arnel.24970 > Okay great.

Arnel.24970 > MayI have your account number please?

Arnel.24970 > I do apologize for the misspelled word. I also accidentally hit the ENTER key.

Todd_ > I don’t have it with me. Can you look it up by address?

Arnel.24970 > No problem.

Arnel.24970 > May I know what services do you currently have with Comcast?

Todd_ > tv only - expanded package I think

Arnel.24970 > Okay.

Arnel.24970 > I will be very happy to process your order today.

Arnel.24970 > Let me go ahead and check out your order first.

Arnel.24970 > Thank you for waiting.

Arnel.24970 > Todd, can you please hold for one moment while I try to locate your address in the database?

Todd_ > yes

Arnel.24970 > Okay.

Arnel.24970 > One moment please.

Arnel.24970 > Thank you for waiting.

Arnel.24970 > Can you please provide me your Social Security Number and your active e-mail address?

Todd_ > the email address for the existing account?

Arnel.24970 > Yes please.

Todd_ > [provided email address]

Arnel.24970 > Thank you.

Arnel.24970 > For account identification can you please verify the amount and date of the last payment made to the account?

Todd_ > I have no idea. My wife pays the bill.

Arnel.24970 > I do apologize, Todd. We will be unable to process your order without proper account verification.

Arnel.24970 > Please do chat us back once you have that information.

Arnel.24970 > Were you able to receive my last message?

Todd_ > so I have wasted 30 minutes?

Arnel.24970 > I do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Todd_ > do you have the number for bellsouth? Maybe they are easier to do business with.

Arnel.24970 > For directions and the contact information of the local office in your area please visit:

https://www.comcast.com/Localization/Localize.ashx

Arnel.24970 > Is there anything else that I can help you with?

Arnel.24970 > Were you able to receive my last message?

Todd_ > If I wanted to place this order, would it still be in my cart or would I have to start all over?

Arnel.24970 > It is possible. Just provide your order I.D. to the representative. That would be [order #].

Todd_ > Gee, glad I asked. Is there no other way to verify the account except to provide the amount and date of the last payment?

Arnel.24970 > I do apologize, Todd Base on the information listed on your account, the date and the last payment made is the only information to verify.

Todd_ > Seems like I should have been told that I would need that info before spending all this time placing the order and scheduling installation.

Arnel.24970 > I really do apologize.

Arnel.24970 > Please do chat us back once you have that information.

Here is what I find so dissatisfying about this experience:

1. I should have been informed that in order to complete the order I would be required to provide certain information to verify the account.
2. Even though I had logged into my account to place the order, the agent…

• Did not know that I was an existing customer
• Did not know my account number.
• Did not know what services I was being provided
• Asked for my Social Security Number
• Asked for my email address

The bottom line: The word “comcastic” should be defined as: “Invasive, painful, frustrating, and dissatisfying.” Example: “My visit to the proctologist was utterly comcastic.”

As many as 15 percent of U.S. adults used only a cell phone last year, up from 10 percent in 2006. That estimate from the Yankee Group, a technology research and consulting company based in Boston, puts the number of American adults without a landline telephone in the home at a whopping 33 million.

The company projects that the number of landline phones will decrease from 93.8 million in 2006 to 78.8 million in 2011. During this same period, they expect the number of cell phones to increase from 188.7 million to 214.5 million.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that cell-phone plans with free nights and weekends, free mobile-to-mobile calling, and free calls to other customers of the same provider have made it easy for many cell-phone customers to give up the landline. Additionally, new plans announced by Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile could entice even more people to drop their home phones by offering unlimited mobile calling plans for a flat rate of $99.99 a month.

The implications for the market research industry are substantial.

• Because landline phones in homes are no longer ubiquitous, random digit dialing is less and less reliable for obtaining representative samples.
• It is increasingly difficult to reach young, single people with traditional telephone research.
• Moving forward, more and more surveys will be completed via cell-phones — not by voice but by integrated web browsers or SMS technology.

The bottom line: Landline telephone surveys are no longer the “gold standard” of the market research industry.

As Internet penetration continues to grow, the demographics of adult Internet users in the U.S. continues to more closely resemble the population as a whole.

While older and lower-income Americans are still slightly underrepresented online, the gap appears to be narrowing. According to data from Harris Interactive, 8 percent of U.S. Internet users are age 65 or over (compared to 16 percent of all adults) and 14 percent have household incomes lower than $25,000 (compared to 19 percent of all adults).

This is good news for online marketing researchers, who continue to bolster internet surveys and the industry’s “gold standard” for data collection.

Results of a recent poll from Harris Interactive show that 178 million U.S. adults are using the Internet. That is a whopping 79 percent.

This is a dramatic increase from the 9% of U.S. adults who reported they went online when Harris first started tracking Internet use in 1995.

The number of adults accessing the internet from home has risen to 72%, up from 70% in 2006 and 66% in 2005.

The amount of time spent online has also continued to increase. Adult Americans are now spending an average of 11 hours per week online, up from 9 hours per week in 2006 and 8 hours in 2005.

With eight out of ten adults now online, and an ever increasing number of people discontinuing their use of landline telephones, web surveys have replaced telephone surveys as the market research industry’s method of choice.

Open-ended questions are those in which respondents type a response in a text box rather than selecting from a predefined set of responses (radio buttons, checkboxes, drop-down lists, etc). When open-ended questions are used properly, they can provide a number of benefits. However, when used improperly, they can be the kiss of death for your survey.

As noted in a previous entry, one common mistake is to use too many open-ended questions in a survey, which may cause many respondents to abandon the interview. Another common mistake made by inexperienced researchers is to force responses to an open-ended question even when it is likely that many or most respondents will have no valuable response to offer.

An example of this would be the question:

Do you have any other comments or suggestions about our company?

If the survey software is programmed to require a response to this question, it is likely that many respondents will be frustrated when they receive an error message telling them they have to type a response before they can proceed to the next question. When this mistake is made, the open-ended responses often include a rash of expletives.

The bottom line: As a rule, a response to an open-ended question should only be required when it is reasonable to think that every respondent will have a meaningful response to offer. Otherwise, a response should be optional.

See also: How and when to use text boxes in online surveys