The customer is always right: online shopping and student service expectations

Service

The Customer Is Always Right

In today's highly challenging and dynamic business world where most of the companies enjoy an online presence and Internet shopping has become a norm, customer service has turned into a major issue. In an article titled ' The customer is always right' written by Cory Goldman, the author explains how poor customer service on the Internet can result in loss of customers. Goldman cites the example of one shopper who went to a site to purchase anti-virus software but never received the product or email confirmation despite his frantic attempts to get an answer. The customer finally got some response many weeks later and found much to his disappointment that he had been charged twice for the product and also for online support. This shows that customer service on the Internet is a major issue of concern since it is so easy to get away with poor service. Online companies are not poorly managed, at least some of them are managed well, but the fact that customers cannot trace you easily often leads to poor customer service. With no brick and mortar presence, several online companies can easily get away with bad customer service even though they know it will result in loss of customers. The author believes that there is no customer loyalty on the Internet. This is something I disagree with. Even though it is true that online shoppers easily switch sites if your site has some technical or response problem, the customers are also likely to keep coming back if they have had good experience with you previously. In other words, customers on the Internet behave more or less the same way an ordinary customer would do offline. They might switch loyalties easily if they have never done business with you and your customer service strikes them as poor in their very first experience. However they are likely to stay and tolerate poor service if they have had enjoyed a positive relationship with you in the past. In other words, there is no point in differentiating between an online shopper and his offline counterpart since both behave in the same manner when it comes to customer service.

Treating Students Like Customers

The second article I read deals with students and their new role as customers of the educational institutions. It appeared in Tufts newsletter where the University official talks about the importance of new Student services center and Tufts' policy of treating students as customers. The official maintains that when students are treated as customers, they can be provided with better services and their needs are taken into account. In this regard, the official also presents the details of their new student services center and how it has become immensely popular among students and how parents have appreciated this new service. However I disagree with the entire idea of treating students as customers. While the concept of a more efficient student service center sounds good as student related issues need to be addressed in an efficient manner, it is totally wrong to base this on the idea of treating students as customers. There is something inherently wrong with this approach.