I recently placed an online order at Zulilly. I knew in advance it would take some time because Zulilly is a drop-ship merchant. They told me that upfront and I was okay with a longer-than-average shipping time. But when the item hadn’t even begun its shipping process six weeks later, I decided I’d been patient enough and now it was time to cancel the order.
That’s when I saw one of the UX mistakes I dislike the most: Customer service that blames the customer by default and gives them no choice but to accept that blame. This is accomplished by the use of multiple choice options—all of which are chosen by the seller.
It’s fine for a company to look at their typical cancellation or return order reasons, make up a list of the most common ones and put those in a dropdown, for example:
- Item didn’t fit.
- Item wasn’t as expected.
- Item was damaged.
But in addition to these, they also need to add an “other” option. That allows the customer to report problems the seller may not have been aware of, and it also mitigates the one-sided dialog that often plagues this interaction. In other words, it protects the seller from their own arrogance. Here’s an example of a one-sided interaction:
- I ordered this item by mistake.
- I changed my mind.
- I no longer need the item.
These options may seem like neutral, no-fault choices from the seller’s standpoint. But from the customer’s perspective they portray the seller as blameless and themselves as inept, fickle, and indecisive. Here’s what the customer might really want to say:
- I ordered this item by mistake …because you misrepresented the product with an ambiguous image or an incorrect description.
- I changed my mind…after I saw all the surprises in your order confirmation.
- I no longer need the item…because the occasion I bought it for has come and gone while I’ve been waiting for you to ship.
For services there is often a similar list of one-sided cancellation reasons:
- I no longer need the service.
- I’m not using the service enough.
- The service is too expensive.
All of the above reasons essentially say the same thing: “I’m not a worthy customer of your service”. Yet buried in each of these is an untapped source of knowledge about a customer’s underlying dissatisfaction with the service provider’s value proposition. Imagine how different the seller’s opinion of their relationship with their customers might be if the list included more critical options. For example, what if the seller allowed for this feedback:
- Your service is often unavailable when I need it.
- I can’t put my subscription on hold or modify my plan, so I have no choice but to cancel it entirely.
- As a loyal customer you’re charging me $49.95 a year, but you just offered the same service to my wife for $19.95 a year.
Or better yet:
• I am dissatisfied with your service.
Reason: [ ]
For a customer it’s frustrating to not be able to express dissatisfaction, and not because customers love to complain. Customers make purchases with their hard-earned money because they want what you are selling, or at least believe they do at the time they make the purchase. I know from my own experience as a customer that I want the transaction to go smoothly, want the item or service that I purchased, want it to meet my expectations, and would be willing to work out a satisfactory resolution if given an opportunity. I would welcome the chance to tell a manufacturer what the fatal flaw was in their product in the hope that they could fix it.
I see this dynamic often on Amazon, where open-ended reviews heavily influence purchases. I’ll see a large number of reviews that say “this would be a great product if only…” or end with “so I had to return it and buy [competitor’s product] instead”. Then I’ll read newer reviews that say “it looks like they fixed the problem…”
When I see a list of return or cancelation reasons set entirely by the seller without any option for my feedback, that don’t allow me to tell them the real reason the transaction was unsatisfactory, they lose me forever as a customer. This may seem harsh, but why would I continue to shop at an online store that isn’t interested in my experience with their product or service? A business that allows the customer to tell them only what they want to hear is never going to excel at customer satisfaction. As customers we deserve better. There are myriad ways a transaction may go wrong from either the seller’s or the customer’s perspective. But as customers, when we’re left not only dissatisfied, but also frustrated and angry, it’s not us. It’s you.