Essay Preview: MiniReport this essayAnticipationHeres a great blurb on the customer experience for purchasing a Mini Cooper:So high is demand for Minis that the waiting period for a customized car (which account about 95 percent of those sold) is now generally in the 8-to-12 week range. So, Mini (which calls its dealers “motoring advisors”) keeps its waiting customers happy with “Make Waiting Fun” welcome kits that “include retro 1950s games like Interstate Highway Bingo” and a “Mini Parking Only” stencil. Mini also created the “Wheres My Baby” program online, which enables waiting buyers to track the progress of their cars, and a bulletin board where waiting — as well as existing — owners can exchange questions and share their experiences. The site has attracted some 12,000 registered users, most of whom seem to have “named” their cars. The real payoff, though, is the viral effect. Notes John Stramatos of Nissan, who stays in touch with long-waiting 350Z, www.z.com, buyers via postcards and coffee-table books: “Those people bring in other customers.”
The Mini team understands that the period between purchase and delivery is a crucial one for customer satisfaction. this principle applies whether youre selling cars or phone lines. In the telecom world, customers must wait for installation of a phone or internet line. Often theres a breakdown in the hand-holding process; customers want to know when theyre getting their service and make numerous calls to find out the status. This creates a burden on the inbound call center and frustration for the customer. One of my clients is working on a web interface that will show a barometer for the status of T-1 installations, which is often a 45 to 60-day process. Theyre also creating a scheduling desk to make proactive communication with customers about the status of
s. Therefor, the mini team is looking to help the consumer with the process of installing the mini services.
A lot of our customers were getting stuck with the situation but still had a feeling of urgency and the need for something that would help. In response they wanted to share with their clients that the status was on the way; not to mention that they really didn’t feel comfortable being late or going to the phone line. When they saw the status was being delayed, our mini team decided to run the service down with a simple button so that customers that weren’t ready with pre-tweaking can now make plans like this: