Last night - or more accurately, this morning at about 1 a.m. I was having a slight panic attack. I'm in the midst of compiling content for a speaking engagement on May 3rd. I'm also launching a new company and I don't have business cards for the event I'm speaking at- yikes. So seven days ago I used a service called UPrinting to get new business cards specifically for this event. They offer some really great card design services, and I was hugely pleased with the overall process of creating the business card on the site. I payed extra to expedite shipping so I would receive the cards well in advance of my speaking engagement. I paid for shipping to occur in four business days. Yesterday was day seven. Yikes again! So at 1 a.m. this morning I proactively had a conversation on their website via Liveperson. The woman I spoke with was kind, helpful and apologetic. I was still annoyed. So I took to Twitter and Tweeted my frustration:
I didn't feel great about the tweet. I try hard to only tweet positive thing, but I was fully frustrated and not all too pleased. I went to bed hoping I'd get my cards in time. This morning when I awoke, I found this message from Uprinting on Twitter
This tweet happened only and hour after I had sent my tweet. It was while I was sleeping, but when I awoke to their message, I was delighted. I sent them a DM with the order number and commending the service I received via Liveperson. They had redeemed themselves. While I was still disappointed in the process and delay in their service, they had acknowledged my frustration.
Which brings me to the point of my post. The secret to customer service in social media -
LET THEM KNOW YOU HEAR THEM.
While I still don't have my business cards, I feel hugely better about Uprinting as a business because they "hear" me. They flipped me. I went from furious to sending this last tweet this morning:
In closing - make sure you're listening, and even if you can't resolve the issue - just let them know you hear them. It will dissipate the frustration. I promise. I just lived it.
Over and out.