Frustration Abounds When Details Differ Between the Store, Online, and Call Center
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
Every two years my family and I upgrade our cell phones. This isn’t because we want the newest model. It’s because we seek the lowest cost. Since each provider offers better deals to new customers than existing ones, we’re forced to switch carriers.
Every time we make our biennial switch, a nightmare unfolds. Here’s one of our tales of frustration.
In Person
This time, our daughter took the lead in our every-other-year phone migration. She replaced her phone first. She did her research online and then visited their store to complete the purchase.
The phone she selected had an instant rebate and a mail-in rebate, which resulted in a cost of zero. Everything went as expected, and she bought her new phone.
We thought nothing of the fact that the website promotion matched the in-store price. Assuming this would continue to be true, however, was a mistake.
With her approval of the product, a few weeks later we moved forward to replace three more phones. With confidence we returned to the store, only to learn the price for that phone had increased and there was no longer a mail-in rebate.
We left discouraged and without our new phones.
Online
Once home, we revisited their website. Online pricing had changed too, but it differed from the store’s price. The cyberspace deal offered an instant rebate, resulting in a net cost of 99 cents.
Though a tad more than free, we accepted the charge. I placed the order, but a pop-up told me I couldn’t upgrade online. It referred me to a toll-free number.
Call Center Sales
I called. Incredibly, their net price after rebate was $50, not 99 cents. When I mentioned the online offer, the agent matched it.
A few days later, I phoned them again to order a fifth and final unit. To my dismay, I hadn’t noted the 800-number given online in the pop-up window.
Instead of repeating a futile pretense of ordering online just to get it, I dialed the number listed on my paperwork.
Call Center Customer Service
This time I encountered yet another pricing situation. The net cost, after promotions and rebate, would be $40 to buy the same phone. I told the agent about the deal I received two days prior.
This confused her, musing about the different options she could tap to give me a better deal. She could reduce my cost to $29.95, even $20—with manager approval—but not 99 cents.
I mentioned the website deal and asked her to match it. She told me she couldn’t do that.
“But the person I talked to on Monday matched it,” I said.
Again, this confused her. After more questioning, she understood the situation. She was in customer service while the prior employee was in sales. Sales could match website offers; customer service could not.
She surprised me by revealing she had a sales quota of two phones per day. Although she remained professional, her enthusiasm waned. She gave me the number for sales, lessening her chances of meeting her daily quota.
I called the number and bought the phone for 99 cents.
One Product and Four Prices
To recap, the store promoted one price, the website listed another, customer service offered a third, and sales quoted a fourth. Customer service had some pricing latitude, but sales had more.
Is this any way to run a business?
Subjecting frontline staff to inconsistent pricing and frustrating policies is no way to treat employees. Nor is it the right way to treat customers.
Everyone suffers with channel inconsistency between the physical store, the website, and the call center. This disconnect affects staff, prospects, and customers.
The result is buyers venting to staff. Frontline employees—store clerks and call center agents—must endure this understandable, but avoidable, customer angst.
What we must offer is channel consistency instead of channel inconsistency.
Marketing Management Success Tip
Channel inconsistency is no longer as bad as it once was. But it still exists. Hire a secret shopper. Have them interact with your company through each channel to uncover inconsistencies in pricing and policies. Then eliminate the differences.
Your customers and your frontline staff will appreciate it.
Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s Sticky Series books, including Sticky Living, Sticky Customer Service, Sticky Sales and Marketing, and Sticky Leadership and Management featuring his compelling story-driven insights and tips.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.