Scary customer experience stories ....5 Things that will make modern customers scream

We have passion for enabling innovative and unforgettable Customer Experiences here at Pendula - which also means we are constantly confronted by all the examples of offensive, scary and woeful customer experiences. 

In honour of Halloween 2023, we're about to dive into some examples of spine-chilling customer experience stories that we just can’t unsee. In today’s world, customer-centricity is key and sophisticated modern buyers are acutely aware of their power. They are getting targeted every other day with attractive welcome offers by the competition, meaning they are not afraid to jump ship at the strike of a witches’ wand. 

From lost luggage stories that will rival the most bewildering ghost stories, to endless on hold scripts that don’t lead anywhere, this blogpost will embark upon a chilling journey into the darkest corners of bad customer service. We’ll be telling some tales of misery and doom, revealing five dreadful clangers that will drive today's discerning customers to scream in blood-curdling exasperation, and churn quicker than a bubbling cauldron on All Hallows’ Eve. 

1. Sneaky bank activity in the night

In the spirit of transparency and basic manners, it is best practise to notify customers when you are taking money from them. Most of us have been tempted at some point by a tool or app we’ve signed up to for a months’ “Free Trial” - only to be bitten in the neck when we’ve  forgotten to cancel after the first month, because we haven’t been given a heads up the free trial is coming to an end. 

By not being transparent about upcoming monthly invoices, or even leaving it until after the transaction has been made for a fine or unexpected charge - it can feel as though the business is trying to be secretive or sneaky, leaving customers with a sour taste in their mouths and a chill in their bones.

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2. Impersonal personalisation

Personalising customer communications is table stakes these days. But too many brands (and not just the smaller ones) get it so wrong. We heard frightening stories of texts addressed to a completely different name. We’ve been targeted by Google and YouTube ads for bunion surgery clinics or maternity wear brands that are completely irrelevant to our interests or demographics. We’ve even been sent cold and clinical broadcast EDMs by industry leaders like Meta that seem to be based on outdated and incorrect segmentation such as the below (I’m not a member of an agency any longer - nor am I currently running any campaigns from my account)

Having a CDP or CRM that can automate these types of interactions is great for marketers looking to elevate their campaigns and save time. But the end results are only as good as the data that goes into them, and too often, businesses are working with siloed or dirty data that translates to blood-curdling howlers like the examples we’ve given above. 

3. The Ugly Flipside

The opposite approach is personalisation that is simply too close for comfort. Using the data you have on your customer for relevant, targeted and above all - helpful messaging is always a good idea. But in an era when customers are uncomfortably aware of the risks of identity theft and cybercrime, it is critical for marketers to strike the right balance between being relevant and coming across as sinister or creepy. 

Imagine receiving an email with an animated GIF of your own Linkedin profile picture like CMO at Canto Erica Gunn did?

“Knowing that you went to an online profile, copied an image of me, or pulled my title from a job description does not make me more interested in your product, and I find the practice to be a little gimmicky and creepy.”

Bottom line is this - personalisation is essential, but it must be done with judgement and contextual nuance. And it must ultimately be helpful to the customer. The practical tip is to have clear data, and compliance protocols about how your personalisation campaign will work. A next-gen Customer Engagement Platform that will automate your communications with accuracy is a must. The beauty of using Pendula is that context and sentiment analysis can be seamlessly built into your workflows, and historical and living data can be integrated at any point too, meaning that your campaigns will stay relevant and timely, every single time.

4. Ghostly Customer Service Support

80% of customers say they’ll switch brands as a result of bad customer experience (and 43% will churn after just a single negative interaction)

Let’s just let that sink in. The majority of your customers will happily jump to a competitor faster than you can say “Boo” if they have a poor interaction with a customer service rep, or cannot find what they’re looking for on your website. The basic principles are not new to anyone - but as Ben Motteram, founder of CXpert puts it - "There's so much bad CX out there, that to stand out, all you need to do is meet customer expectations."

Answering incoming calls at the very least is the minimum expectation. Responding with speed, empathy, proactivity and self-service options are all expected too, as well as having the full choice of contactable channels available from social media channels, to email, to telephone. All of this conveys that a brand is putting the customer first, making themselves super easy to work with, and ensuring it’s as painless as possible for their customers to get what they need. 

One really frightening habit that we’ve seen plenty of companies guilty of is ghosting their customers by leaving them hanging on hold, or trying to be invisible by making it really hard for their customers to get in touch with them. But those customers in search of help will just get even more frustrated and aggravated when they can’t find a way to get the support they need - leaving them feeling disappointed by the company as a whole. One popular Australian cinema chain for example, simply doesn’t offer the opportunity for inbound customer communications at all, without any Contact Us options displayed in any of the expected spots - the header, footer or the top hamburger menu in the left hand sidebar.  

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5. Grave disturbances 

Most of us have inboxes bloated with unsolicited and disruptive batch and blast emails, SMS and WhatsApp messages from companies over-communicating with us. But it’s not just the frequency to be mindful of. 

Many businesses use number pooling to send out SMS communications to their customers, meaning that a customer may find they are receiving messages from multiple different businesses using the same random mobile number. When the companies that use the same number are as opposite as a gym, and a medical centre - recipients might be left feeling unsure about sender validity or credibility. 

Given that average open rates of emails are 20% and SMS are at 98%, SMS as a marketing channel should definitely be leveraged. But they should come through with one unique number per customer. This goes some way to establish critical company-customer trust, whilst allowing for two-way conversations so that the customer can jump back into the message thread and reach out when it suits them. 

Find out how we’re automating compliant, two-way SMS conversations for our customers that really resonate, at scale.  

The lessons to be learned from these frightening scenarios are clear: in today’s environment when modern customers have discerning standards, minimal patience, and are willing to voice their opinions louder than ever, delivering exceptional customer experiences is no longer a choice but a necessity.

To avoid turning your customers into the unwilling victims of a horror show, remember that a genuine desire to help solve their problems is the number one priority, and having great communications strategies in place with the help of a next gen Customer Experience platform to drive those strategies at scale is number two.