Journey’s end – or is it?
Maybe, just maybe, we should all follow JustCloud’s example, start worrying less about sophisticated customer journey mapping and try some old-fashioned customer service.
“Be nice to people on your way up, because you never know who you’ll meet on your way down!” is one of my mother’s favourite phrases. It might be redolent of the days of a more linear career progression, but surely good advice all-round.
An acid test of a brand and how they really feel about customers and how to treat them is when you’re leaving. We talk a lot about customer journeys, but often the most memorable stage is the point of departure. How do we feel about a brand that we’re moving away from – and how does the brand’s behaviour as we end our transactional relationship impact on our future perception?
Maybe, just maybe, we should all follow JustCloud’s example, start worrying less about sophisticated customer journey mapping and try some old-fashioned customer service.
“Be nice to people on your way up, because you never know who you’ll meet on your way down!” is one of my mother’s favourite phrases. It might be redolent of the days of a more linear career progression, but surely good advice all-round.
An acid test of a brand and how they really feel about customers and how to treat them is when you’re leaving. We talk a lot about customer journeys, but often the most memorable stage is the point of departure. How do we feel about a brand that we’re moving away from – and how does the brand’s behaviour as we end our transactional relationship impact on our future perception?
A few weeks ago – on the advice of ‘Computer Dave’, Channel Doctor’s tech support lifeline – I started to use Knowhow Cloud www.myknowhowcloud.com for back-ups. Knowhow (LiveDrive’s service white-labelled by PC World in the UK) offered multi-device coverage and a decent interface very cheaply. I didn’t feel that my existing provider, JustCloud www.justcloud.com, could match that offering (though in fairness I didn’t proactively check with them) and signed up with Knowhow.
I followed the instructions on JustCloud’s website to cancel my account by emailing them. And that’s when things got interesting and pleasing.
Firstly, they gave me a pro-rata credit for the remaining term of my year’s contract – which was totally unexpected. And then I received an email from Glenn in JustCloud’s Customer Service team which – perhaps not surprisingly – asked why I was cancelling and if they could do anything to retain me. What I thought was really impressive was that this came after I’d had my unexpected refund. The email went on to check that I had got alternative back-up cover and detailed what I had got backed up with JustCloud and advising me to check that these files weren’t at risk. Glenn went on to explain that JustCloud wouldn’t delete the files until they’d heard from me.
Data back-up lies a little bit in the territory of the falling tree in a deserted forest – can it be heard if no-one’s there? Similarly, is my data really being backed-up if I’m too idle and disorganised to ever check? So back-up is – or should be – a trust purchase; you need to be confident of the reliability and integrity of your supplier. As it happens, my laptop stopped working a few days ago (and is in IT intensive care with ‘Computer Dave’ as I write), so I’ve had a chance to test that Knowhow’s back-ups work in anger, so to speak. It does work, so the business hasn’t ground to a halt.
But will I renew with Knowhow Cloud next year? If their prices go up or I fancy a change then JustCloud will definitely be top of my list. Not as the result of a sophisticated win-back approach, just old fashioned excellent customer service.
