The previously prevailing philosophy had been very similar; that by providing the best customer service possible, we were making more money, even if it wasn’t possible to measure. However, this is really only the case when you’re making a product where you have direct competition making a very similar product at similar prices. Computer manufacturers are a great example of this. They all use pretty much the same parts to put together computers and sell them at similar prices. It’s a situation where the company’s reputation for customer service can easily change a customer’s purchase choice.

If you don’t have a competitor selling similar products at a similar price point, there are other factors that will be influencing a customer’s choice more than customer service. Nobody makes a product with the same features at a similar price point (most cost approximately ten times what ours does and are intended for professional use rather than consumer use, or they’re just not much fun to use) so it really wasn’t necessary to be providing higher levels of customer service. Essentially we’re the only game in town. People don’t buy something they don’t need just because the company provides great service. So now we’re providing adequate customer service and redirecting those resources to areas of the company that will be better able to make use of them (development and marketing).

Now, just because we’ve lowered standards doesn’t mean that we are offering poor customer service. We still offer what we believe to be (and would expect as customers of other companies) an acceptable level of customer service. Under the old philosophy we called back every single missed call, whether that person left a message or not. We still call back every person that leaves a message; on the first business day we’re open if they call on a weekend or holiday, and within a few hours if they call during business hours. We just don’t do all the extra calling to people that don’t leave messages.

If at some point a direct competitor emerges, we can channel some of those resources back into customer service. We already know how to do it, so it’s just a matter of re-implementing some of the lapsed policies.