E-Service: 24 Ways to Keep Your Customers--When the Competition Is Just a Click Away

by Ron Zemke, Thomas K. Connellan, Tom Connellan

This is a guide to building good service on the Web. It provides a blueprint of ready-to-implement ideas and solutions for how to provide great service in cyberspace. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814406068
• ISBN13: 9780814406069
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Amacom
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Retain or Die

I have a bias which Zemke and Connellan apparently share: Literally anyone who has any contact with a customer (or client) is a "customer service representative." They include whoever answers the telephone; whoever greets visitors at the door or encounters them within the building; whoever delivers anything to a customer; whoever has direct contact with a customer's own customer, vendor, or service provider (e.g. banker, attorney, accountant, management consultant); and whoever in any other situation has an opportunity to add value to the customer relationship. You get my point. The authors of this book focus on a major challenge to all organizations: keeping customers, especially now when "the competition is just a click away." Customer retention is the name of this "game" and almost everyone within a given organization is a "player."Zemke and Connellan organize their excellent material within fourteen chapters, presenting and then explaining 24 "key" strategies to maximize customer retention. These "keys" range from "Master the ETDBW [i.e. Easy to Do Business With] Design Basics" in Chapter 5 to "Use Incentives to Increase Spending" in Chapter 11. They then provide "A Seven-Lesson Crash Course in E-Service Improvement" in Chapter 12 followed by a thought-provoking chapter "The Future of the Net: Take These Predictions to the Bank" and, in the final chapter, a "Browser's Guide" which offers 80 "tips" such as "the long-term winners...will be those that have done the best job of supporting their customers and delivering that value in a way that seems effortless." I also appreciate the inclusion of "Notes" and "Additional Resources."For small-to-midsize organizations especially, here in a single-volume are information and guidance sufficient to assist the design, launch, implementation, and refinement of an e-business customer service program. I think this book can also be of substantial value to much larger organizations which, I am convinced, should constantly re-evaluate such a program already in place. Recall the "bias" to which I referred earlier. Recent market research (generated by several million respondents) has revealed what is most important to customers: "feeling appreciated" and "ease of doing business" (or "convenience") were ranked either #1 or #2 among the attributes. Revealingly, "cost" is ranked anywhere between #9 and #14. Do Zemke and Donnellan address all the "right" questions? No, but they don't miss many. Are all of their answers to various questions the "right" ones? Read the book and judge for yourself. In fact, I urge you to consult a number of other books which cover much of the same material. It would be imprudent (perhaps even stupid) to rely entirely on a single source. The authors identify several in the "Additional Resources" section to which I presume to add Treacy and Wiersema's The Discipline of Market Leaders (who have a great deal of value to say about "customer intimacy") as well as Customer Equity co-authore

A must-read to stay connected to your customer

E-Service is a terrific read if you are concerned about customer satisfaction in the age of "E". This book outlines 24 ways to use "E" service to differentiate your business from the competition.Zemke and Connellan are well known customer service guru's and their observations and strategies in this new book are right on target. Great customer service is an integral, component to any business that wants to generate revenue from new and existing customers -- and the on-line world ups the ante. This book shares key ideas for enhancing the service end of your business using the web to keep customers coming back for more.A must-read for every business person in this age of rapid change.

e-service

My career, delivering training for organizations throughout North America, not only requires I prepare in detail the specific programs I am hired to deliver but to keep up with other relevant issues in the training marketplace. This is one of the reasons I enjoy readinig and using Ron Zemke's books. He writes on relevant topics. This is the case for Tom Connellan and Ron Zemke's newest book E-SERVICE. Recently I loaned E-SERVICE to one of the Customized Training Coordinators for South Central Technical College, North Mankato, MN. Her first reaction was, "He (Zemke) has done it again. He has written a book with immediately useful and relevant information." I concur.The content of this book is so valuable. We encourage organizations to make their processes, forms, and voice mail systems warmer and easier to use. Once you read this book you will see how important it is to keep these same principles (and practices) in mind when you encourage customers to conduct e-business with your organization. The book is literally a HANDS ON manual on what you want to consider and what you might do to make your website, your e-commerce site more effective, efficient, and productive.The statistics and research are very valuable and validate how important it is to give your on-line commerce site serious consideration. The book becomes a great HANDS ON tool when you combine the research with what to do NOW and what to do NEXT.

E-Service: 24 Ways to Keep Your Customers

This book lays out exactly what you need to do to keep your buisness alive and thriving on the Web. It's got great site examples, useful research data, and lots of easy-to-follow advice on how to design and manage a customer-friendly e-commerce site. I'd encourage anyone who does business online to buy a copy.

e-service tells why, how, when and where!

Zemke and Connellan have struck gold again! Citing facts, figures and e-shoppers' perceptions, they present a compelling case. People may flock to dot com stores, but they also leave in droves. The conclusions: online sellers must not ignore critcal customer service lessons learned in storefronts, and online sellers also have a new set of customer service issues to address. The authors outline a detailed blueprint for how to do it, telling what customer service means in an internet environment and explaining exactly what steps must be taken to avoid losing customers online.