Steve Furman found out that an elaborate multi-channel campaign does not necessarily work. Mellon Investment asked him to confirm his tax payer identification number (TIN), by either phone or internet. However, he eventually had to print a PDF document, fill it out by hand, and use USPS to get it back to Mellon.

What went wrong?

On the Internet, the regular login worked, but he was locked out of his account when he was asked to repeat the credentials when confirming his TIN.

On the phone, the voice response system did not have the right options, and he couldn’t immediately get through to an operator because they were closed.

When he called back, they couldn’t help him but confirmed his account was _not_ locked out.

When he logged in later that night, he found out he _was_ locked out. Of course, the phone help desk was closed now.

The next day he used the online chat feature and a representative helped him get back into his account, which worked well. After filling out a form to dynamically generate a PDF, the resulting PDF was unreadable, and contained the wrong TIN.

What went right?

Actually, it seems the online chat was the only feature that actually worked: it allowed him to get back into his account quickly.

On this blog we’re writing about customer engagement and great user experiences. This is often about elaborate web applications that offer innovative features. However, Steve’s write-up makes me realize that a great customer experience starts with making the basic things work: online systems that don’t throw errors, and voice response systems that connect you with the right person at a time that is convenient for you.