The impact of service failures depends largely on the way recovery happens. At a base level, it is often not the mistake that makes us tell a dozen people about the experience, but what the company or organization does to recover. There is reasonable evidence (this Journal of Marketing Research article, for example) that what is deemed as exceptional recovery can, at times, create more loyalty with the customer than if nothing went wrong in the first place. Let’s use Nike+Ipod as an example, as this is a product and venture between Apple & Nike that I love.

For those not familiar, the Nike+ website allows you to upload your run/walk information from an Ipod receiver. The receiver plugs into your Ipod and tells you roughly how far you have walked/run and how fast you did it. While I can’t verify that all Nike+Ipod devices do this, Lance Armstrong’s voice comes on mine and congratulates me when I run especially fast or far. Pretty cool…..until you can no longer link your Ipod information to the website that tracks it, causing the analytical part of me to seize up at fear of lost run data. Keep in mind, I am not a natural athlete or runner….I want full credit for every inch of every mile I cover!

Here’s what I did to fix my situation and what Nike+Ipod support did in response (see my comments to their response in italics and parentheses).

Me: 2/10/2008 8:42 PM -

Hi, I have been using my nike+ipod and it has worked great, except that I just replaced the sensor and although it seems to be recording the runs fine on the ipod itself, it isn’t showing up when I sync with the website. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Nike+: Response Kim - 02/11/2008 08:10 AM (Their response comes within 12 hours - they've already accomplished more than many service recoveries) -

Hello Eric, (starting off with my name - so far so good) I am very sorry to hear that you are unable to sync your runs to the your Nike+ account! As one who also runs with the Nike+ iPod and Sport Kit, I can certainly understand how disappointing this is for you. (Another runner, who acknowledges my frustration right off the bat.)

It may be better for us to go through this together over the phone. So that we can effectively troubleshoot, please contact Nike+/ Running customer service at 1-800-595-6453 ( 7am-3:50pm, PT, M-F). (This is understandable, and a positive step to take to resolve the issue. While not directly a solution, I feel like it is a positive next step.)

When you contact us, please ensure that you are near your computer, and that you have your Nike+ iPod and Sport Kit available.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Have a great day! (They may tell everyone this, and they should.....it is simple, but it drives home this feeling of customized service that is often missing.)

Sincerely,
Kim (When did it become okay to have no name or be from "The service team"? Nothing says I don't care more than the impression that your problem didn't even warrant the attention of a single human being. By simply signing the first name of the person who responded (or auto response, if that was what was used), Nike+ has sent a very different message - you are important to us, and we will treat you as an individual, not just a number)
Nike+/ Nike Running

Result:

After calling Nike+ and having a very pleasant experience with the service rep on the phone, but not being able to find the problem, I essentially sucked it up and started a new account. Tracking has been seamless since, but I did lose a couple of months of historical run data (not necessarily a bad thing….when you are as slow and out of shape as I am, it can be better to rely more on my faulty, ego-driven memory than what the reality of the runs was).

Grading Nike+

Personalization: A+ Nike+ gets that I am a person with a problem; I like to feel like another person has heard me.

Responsiveness: A+ I was never left wondering if anything was happening - they gave me clear instructions on how to clear it up.

Empathy: A+ How perfect is it that Kim has related to me and confirmed that I have every right to be frustrated. That is so rare in service recovery.

Result: C- After all of these high scores, the end result is that they didn't actually fix my problem. Ironically, by the end, I almost didn't care.

Overall Experience A-

Sure, we all want our problems resolved, but almost as important is the path that a company takes us on to get to the resolution. We are frustrated; show us empathy, we are busy; show us responsiveness, and we are not a faceless "customer", treat us like people and let us know that we matter to your organization. In the professional service firm environment it is even more important we display these characteristics, but think closely about whether we do everything we can to put ourselves in the shoes of the people on the other side of the issue.