37signals Fails To Deliver The Customer Service They Offer

37signals makes some really useful web-based software tools. I thought several of their products were so useful I took time to explore their website to learn more. They tempted me with cool, elegantly designed interfaces, and an offer to “get in touch”. I tried to take them up on their offer to chat via telephone. I sent them an email (actually three) requesting an appointment to discuss my needs. Each email garnered a reply— “we don’t provide any phone support, sales, etc. We’re entirely email based.” Then they encouraged me to tell them all about myself and my needs via email. This wouldn’t be so bad, except their offer to potential customers says exactly the opposite.

The worst part about this content management snafu is that the human being indicated as the official company contact (Jason Fried) is the same person who is telling customers the company doesn’t talk to customers over the telephone. Irony—and bad customer service—it’s all around us.

In fact, Jupiter Research reports that email customer service is worse today then in years past. Of course, there are some reasons companies select email over the telephone, but they have nothing to do with developing new customer relationships nor ensuring existing customer satisfaction.

My personal reasons for wanting to schedule a telephone call with 37signals is simple. Email is a giant error-prone time vaccuum that promotes ineffective and wasteful communication. Researchers agree and point to many reasons, including the egocentrism of human beings. In short, people are better at communicating and interpreting vocal messages than text-based ones. This is no doubt good news for the folks at Skype.

Free advice for 37signals

For the folks at 37signals, this experience should serve as a lesson. Try listening to your potential customers. If you take the time to do so, you might learn that you have problems on your own website, the same type of problems you offer to fix for your clients. Again, the irony…

By failing to take the time to understand my needs, you missed a big opportunity (and perhaps an even bigger sale) to make a positive impact on a very influential group of content professionals. And, you’ve created some unnecessary negative buzz instead of creating a positive relationship with a potential customer evangelist.