Third-Party Website Functions Can Ruin Customer Relationships
It’s not like anyone likes to get a traffic citation but at least the Dekalb Country officer that pulled me over for a rolling stop was nice about it.
Despite the fact it was raining, the officer politely explained what I had done, pointed me to the online instructions on how to pay the citation, and even apologized for the inconvenience. As a customer experience, particularly in setting expectations, it was a textbook encounter.
Initial interactions like these can go a long way in building trust and the long term potential value of a customer. For instance, though I don’t currently reside in Dekalb Country, should I ever consider moving here or even spending more time and money here, that encounter set a positive expectation in how I might be treated. However, that encounter was only one touch-point.
To maintain that level of trust and continue building that relationship, that expectation of clear and transparent communication has to be upheld.
Now, I realize that only customer strategy geeks like myself intellectualize a traffic citation like this but follow along…Flash forward to a couple hours later: thanks to the officers explanation, I see I clearly deserved the citation and I decided to go ahead and pay the fine.
Flaw One – Long URLs & Broken Redirects
I followed the instructions on the citation, only to find that not only was the website they were directing me a very long URL that I had to enter manually, the page it did send me to was dead. Not cool but not altogether frustrating. After all, sometimes it takes a while to update text copy on receipts and forward progress on shorter URLs are always a good thing, right?
Flaw Two – More Than 3 Clicks To Get To What I Need
After arriving at the broken link I decided to go back to Dekalb County’s website. Surely traffic citations and other forms of revenue must be one of the more important things to the city so it can’t be that hard to find, right? Apparently not. Not only did it take me more than 5 minutes on their home page to find the right link, I had to click through several more times just to find the link to the right form for traffic citations.
Flaw Three – The Third-Party Payment System
At this point, my experience with the polite cop has been eclipsed by the “typical government bureaucracy ” frustration. All I want to do is pay the fine and get back to playing on Facebook. The fine itself isn’t that bad but apparently I also have to pay a court fee and a “convenience fee.” Neither of these fees are explained and I feel very much taken advantage of.
This kind of experience underscores how third-party website functions can undo any goodwill for a customer. Explanation and consistency is key to keeping a strong customer relationship. If you do have to go with a third-party system, think about those three major flaws and how you can avoid them.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the citation for a rolling stop has drained me of my lunch money and I now have to go heat up my ramen noodles.
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