Published By
Ryan
on
Jun.27.2008
at
8:00AM
I recently moved into a new home with my wife Jamie. Over the past month every spare moment has gone into fixing and upgrading our house.
Recently the repairs have slowed down. They haven't slowed down because the list of chores has dwindled, they've come to a crawl because of a lack of resources. Two repairs are haunting me: a missing grommet from a septic pump, and a broken shower door.
The fix for both projects is quite simple; I need a grommet for the pump, and a clip for the door. The problem is that these items don't seem to exist in the real world.
The Pump
Stagnant water stench was escaping out of the pump resevoir and I needed a plug to fill the hole from which it eminated. After measuring the opening (with nose plugged) I determined the size was 2 inches in diameter.
The next step was to find the appropriate plug. I hit Home Depot, Lowes, Rona, and even Canadian Tire. None of these store had what I needed.
I finally looked up Myers, the name on the pump basin. After searching the products online, I was no closer to solving my problem, so I called the 800 number listed. I was transferred to someone's voicemail
Shortly after I hung up, I was called back by a very helpful employee named Peter. He suggested that I email him some pictures of the pump and he'd try to identify it and determine what part I needed and where I could get it.
As he made this recommendation, he paused and asked whether I owned a digital camera to perform this task. I do, so he continued talking and gave me his email address.
This is the photo I sent to customer service using my digital camera and email, thanks to technology.
The Shower
The story here is basically the same. I tried all the same stores and could not find the part I needed, so I went online and found the manufacturer, Maax. The customer support agent on the other end of the line made the same suggestion to take photos and email them. When he paused to assess my digital life he asked whether I had the internet so I could email. He assumed I must have a digital camera.
Conclusion
I am currently waiting for the shower clip to arrive by mail from Maax. They sent it free of charge. The grommet is supposedly on order through a Myers reseller in the city. I'm not holding my breath; they didn't seem to keen at the counter to help me.
At the end of the day, I wonder how I might have completed this task 10 years ago. I know I could have done it, but I don't remember how. Now the process is to immediately go online to search google for the company listed on the product, do you own search through the catalogue for the item in question, and then read pdf manuals, etc. until you solve the problem. At worst, the email, phone, and physical address of the company is there for you to get direct assistance.
You don't need any skill as a raconteur to help customer support visualize the part, you simply need a digital camera and their email address. The whole process takes under an hour, and it seems nearly impossible to fail in your quest.
All this said, it's odd that doing this for 2 different items lead me to 2 different assumptions about what is standard. 1 man assumed I should have email; the other, a digital camera. They were both right, but what is the right assumption?
Published By
Ryan
on
Jun.13.2008
at
8:00AM
When you're selling electronics you should give the customer all the details possible. Apple makes sure that you can clearly see what ports are available on their computers.
When storage on the web costs mere pennies why wouldn't you put as much information online as possible? It makes no sense for your customers to struggle for the information they need when making decisions about what product or service is right for them. Give them enough information to help them make an informed decision when buying from your store
There are all sorts of things you can include in your store. Obviously, not everything listed here will be applicable to your site, but there is almost always room for improvement within your site
Product Images
- Show the product from several angles
- Show the product in use
- Show every colour or pattern available
- Provide a 360 degree panorama of your product
- Provide a video of the product's functionality
- Offer enlarged views
- Show close-up photos to highlight the details
Lingerie retailer, Victoria's Secret provides customers with swatches for all available colours. Close-ups of each fabric swatch shows the textures of the fabric as well
Describe the Product
- Have a professional copywriter create a short description about the product
- Tell the customer how it works
- List the product's features for easy consumption
- Provide manufacturing information (ie: Organic, Made in Canada)
- Give dimensions or sizing information
- Put product manuals online
Warehouse superstore Costco puts details easily in the customer's hand. A well-written description, bulleted features, shipping and warranty info is easily located within the page.
There's no sales Rep sitting with them
- Ensure that the price and shipping details are
easily found
- If it's on sale, let the customer know what it did cost
- Show stock quantities online and in-store
- Make the return policy and warranty information convenient
- Keep the checkout simple and secure
Future Shop, a Canadian electronics retailer, shows the customer stock availability at up to 4 bricks and mortar locations as well as their online sales stock.
Give them MORE!
- Provide customer reviews. Even a bad review might help you improve your product
- Show the customer accessory options for the product
- If the product isn't made by you, provide a link to the manufacturer's product page
- Show your customer what others have bought along with the item in question
Not only does Amazon show their customers what other people have bought along with the item in question, but they also provide countless product reviews written by other customers
Published By
Corey
on
Jun.06.2008
at
8:28AM
The Home Work Fun triangle, (henceforth called HWF) describes my method of keeping the major dimensions of life in balance. In this post I'll talk about the major players in my triangle and go over some basics in HWF self evaluation
When Ryan and I chose the name Full of Design it wasn't just about beautiful graphics and feature rich software. It was just as much about designing our lives to be full of the things we strive for. I want the opportunity to fill my live with my family, travel and squash, but to achieve that I'm 100% aware that work is going to play a big part. I've been trying to consciously live by keeping my HWF in check.
We're all responsible for letting the triangle become unbalanced once in a while. Overcommitment of your energy and time to one dimension causes another to suffer. In most cases an over investment towards the Work vertex brings about problems on the home front.
My repeat offender is sometimes there will be a project that grabs my interest so much it makes me put everything else on a back burner (or off the stove altogether). After a couple of days or weeks it becomes painfully apparent that Home and Fun are suffering and I tone down on the Work focus.
Home
Home is where I unwind with my wonderful wife Kandy and Full of Energy Mischevious Molly Martella. This is listed first because it is the most important dimension and also the first to get out of whack. What happens when you over or under commit to Home?
Work
Most of us work to pay the bills, I count myself among the supremely lucky that I love what I do and don't mind pouring my heart and soul into my work. I've been employed by a company that lived by the mantra "Work Hard. Play Hard" and I totally agree with it. The rewards from Home and Fun become amplified when you finish a slice of work that just leaves you thinking "Damn, thats some good work!". Work is also the dimension that most of us let miscommunicated expectations and overcommitment play a role
The ladder climber. If you have the kind of lifestyle to hyper focus on your career without consequence go for it but work isn't all things to all people.
Fun
This area is interesting in that in a perfect world is a superset of Home and Work. But I have personal interests, primarily being squash, that doesn't mesh with my home life. Take time for yourself at least twice a week to keep the battery charged (both physically and mentally) then come home happy and go to work ready to impress.
Your commitments to fun don't have to be time consuming or cause your disappearance from the home front. I love to take a break from work and rock out on a few Guitar Hero tunes. When you've had a tough morning at work find someplace at lunch to take your mind off things. I head to Chapters and browse the car magazines, oh Bugatti Veyron, when will you be mine!
Frank the tank. Corey circa 2002. Good memories, bad planning.
Thats some Zen stuff Corey but...
how do I implement it myself? Good question, I find each dimension can be evaluated by 3 metrics.
Time
It would seem obvious that spending 0 hours in a day/week/month at home would probably upset your significant other. However, in years past I quickly run out of fingers when I try to count the number of times I've been late for dinner or had to leave early in the morning and it went miscommunicated. Keep tabs on how much time you are (or aren't) devoting to each dimension.
Effort
In my books effort comes in two forms, physical and mental, but counts to one total. I know after a long game of squash I'll be too exhausted for errands so I make sure that before I play I check the to do list and see if theres any "utohs" on it.
Mental effort is the one that I have the most trouble realistically evaluating. There will be days of work that I'll rack my brain to no end trying to solve a problem but moments after recharging at home the solution appears. I totally believe the occurrences of eureka moments is correlated to keeping HWF in check.
Fight or Flight
When you're sitting at your desk and you can't concentrate because your thinking "Crap, I forgot to ____ the ____" that is the ideal Fight or Flight evaluation point. Do you fight through the mental reminder and get some work done? Do you take flight and clear your head? Be fair to yourself and your coworkers/family/friends fight through the minor annoyances and take flight for the major deal breakers.
Go forth and balance!
Score each metric on whatever scale you like. For time I give myself 5/5 for each dimension I feel I exceeded the time demands put on me, 3 if I met them and 1 or 0 if I let someone down. For effort if any dimension pushed me to the point of mental or physical exhaustion it gets a 0. If it recharged my battery or I feel that I opened a can of whoop ass on it the 5's show up. Fight or flight I leave as a + or -. If I fought through some major discouragement I add points. If I took flight to another dimension too often (leaving work to make errands) I take points off.
