I was a loyal United Airlines Premier flyer for 15 years. I loved getting on the plane first, sitting towards the front in Economy Plus, and always being able to find room for my bag. Not to mention all of United’s wonderful international locations to which I took many a free flight over the years.


However, at the same time, there was no question that I was frustrated by United’s horrible customer service. I’m still bitter about the Bengali booking agent who neglected to tell me that my flight involved an overnight stay in Tokyo, and the Manila-based agent who could not understand why rebooking me through Dulles after my BWI flight was cancelled was insanely inconvenient.


So it was with mixed feelings that I did not earn Premier status last year. The golden handcuffs had been unlocked. And now, although they have no international service on which to use my Frequent Flyer miles, I’ve switched to Southwest. I certainly miss assigned seating, but I love knowing that my flight is highly likely to take off and land on time, and their no mess, no fuss 100% cancellation credit policy is awe-inspiring.


I’m impressed with their operation and finally feel that I am actually getting what I pay for from an airline. To make things even more impressive, when I got home from a recent Southwest flight, I received this email.





I am still wowed. It is such a teensy tiny gesture. No doubt there is a random email generating program that sent it to me. But I love that they took the time to program their computer to follow up and say thank you. Not only did they get me to and from my destination on time and with minimal fuss, but they thanked me!


Small gestures of appreciation to clients and customers are disproportionately powerful. Are there ways you could thank your customers and clients more often? You can be sure they will appreciate it!

This blog post is guest authored by Dr. Anne Beall, President of Beall Research and Training. Anne is also the author of the succinct and very useful book Strategic Market Research. I asked Anne to write this post because I have found that it is sometimes challenging to convince clients that using a 10-point scale for their customer satisfaction surveys is the best way to go.

Read More -›

I had one of those circle-of-hell phone calls with AT&T last week. I worked with 3 separate individuals, 2 of whom were great and one who put me on hold for 30 full minutes.

A few days later, I received an automated satisfaction survey via telephone. The survey assumed that I had only worked with one AT&T employee. There was therefore no way to qualify whose service I was reviewing. As a customer, this was extremely frustrating. I wanted to let them know about the horrible service I had received, but I in no way wanted either of the great people I’d interacted with to get dinged. Read More -›