In his new book, A Renegade History of the United States, Thaddeus Russell talks about the birth of the American consumer culture: By the end of the nineteenth century, every major business that catered to consumers was conducting market research surveys to find out what they wanted, then producing it as soon as they could. […]
They say Corporate America has no sense of humor. Are they right? Find out by following Write The Company a consumer humor blog consisting of crazy consumer affairs and customer service letters about everyday products, services and brands and what the companies behind them had to say about it. Every Thursday, Zengage brings […]
Update: A lot’s changed since we first wrote this blog post! Building an internal knowledge base is now easier than ever with Zendesk Guide. Original blog post below: We received this question recently during one of our regular webinars: Can we create private forums in order to create an internal knowledge base? The answer is […]
Have you ever tried to send Madonna a fan letter? Or pinged Justin Timberlake to buy a band t-shirt? Did you expect an actual response? Probably not. Mainstream artists are swaddled in layers of PR reps, managers, handlers, and promoters dedicated to creating a buffer between fans and celebrities. The independent music scene tells a […]
Doc Searls on personalization in advertising: The first problem is that personal advertising is kind of an oxymoron. Advertising has always been something you do for populations, not individuals, even if ads show up in searches by individuals, and advertisers are looking for individual responses. From the individuals side, advertising shouldnt be any more personal […]
A couple of weeks ago, Foursquare had a major outage. We felt their pain; site outages of any sort are hugely frustrating for both engineers and customers. Foursquare isnt alone; there are plenty of other famous and infamous stories of services that have suffered from operational issues. Back in 1999 Ebay suffered from day long […]
I wish I had better things to say about Outsourced. Its just a bit of a chore now, isnt it? If its not the appallingly stupid novelties theyre selling, its the equally appalling Americans they are selling to. Seriously people, bitch pills? And the Worlds Best Mom t-shirt the customer is hoping to wear to […]
Brian Halligan is the CEO and founder of HubSpot.com, a company that helps other companies develop its inbound-marketing, which, essentially, means having clients find you, rather than the traditional, opposite route. By its very nature, HubSpot has to stay ahead of the curve. We spoke with Halligan regarding building customer relations and loyalty in todays […]
So you signed up for a Zendesk trial. Good for you! But now what? Get all of your questions answered on how to get started with our super practical demonstration designed to help you easily implement Zendesk. If you are a brand new customer, this webinar is ideal for you. In less than an hour, […]
In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened up the first Ben & Jerrys in a dilapidated gas station in Burlington, VT. From the beginning, the cheery graphics, funky flavor names, and commitment to social causes gave Ben & Jerrys a fun but progressive flavor. Jerry Greenfield spoke with us via phone from Minnesota. How […]
They say Corporate America has no sense of humor. Are they right? Find out by following Write The Company a consumer humor blog consisting of crazy consumer affairs and customer service letters about everyday products, services and brands and what the companies behind them had to say about it. Every Thursday, Zengage brings […]
It’s hard to believe that three years has passed since Zendesk was born. It’s been an interesting adventure for sure; one that would not have been possible without our truly amazing customers, investors, friends, and families, all of who have made this wild ride as smooth as possible. Please join us in celebrating our 3-year anniversary […]
A recent survey by RightNow – a provider of on-demand customer experience solutions – provides an incredible statistic about customers who jump ship after a bad customer service experience. The Customer Experience Impact 2010 report reveals that 82% of consumers in the U.S. said theyve stopped doing business with a company due to a poor […]
When we launched Zendesk three years ago, Ruby on Rails deployment was weird science, Ferret was hot, and BackgrounDRb was the tool of choice for running background jobs. Thankfully, that’s all in the past and long forgotten. Things have changed so much and for the better. Building an application has never been easier than today […]
After a litany of Gap fans freaked out that the company had the audacity to change its logo from the trademark white-on-blue logo to this weird little doohickey that transposed black lettering against a weird blue square box thing, the company has gone back to the way things were. Today, the sacred and original “classic” […]
Smooch coffee house had received the kiss of death. Investors had just informed its owner Basquali (he goes by one name) that they couldn’t take the acrimony anymore between him and his partner/ex-girlfriend Kalalea (so does she), and had found a buyer for his three-year-old Ft. Greene, Brooklyn café, who were going to turn it […]
“Having an open, easy-to-integrate customer support solution like Zendesk is crucial, especially with so many cloud-based products available for the enterprise. We liked Zendesks philosophy from Day 1.” Timothy Eberwein, Director of Information Technology, Sears Canada Sears Canada is a multi-channel retailer with a network of 197 corporate stores, 241 dealer stores, 31 home […]
The Better Business Bureau, an organization that prides itself on being a beacon for customer service, slapped the ginormous search engine company with a C- for its negative customer service. Google it seems has a habit of not responding to customer complaints. The BBB report chides Google because “more than one complaint is unresolved meaning […]
For decades, Buicks have conjured up images of our dearest grannies and grandpas peeping over a giant steering wheel, cruising down the streets at a max speed of 20 mph, and taking up at least two spots in any given parking lot. Well, those my friends, were the good ol’ days. The manufacturer revealed at […]
When you read Costco’s return policy, it’s pretty extraordinary. For instance, check out the rules governing electronics: The following must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund: televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones. That means you could, for example, buy a laptop computer or a camera, […]
As stewards of this fine planet, we’ve been really trying our hardest to be better about not destroying it on a daily basis. So, in addition to recycling, not running the water while brushing our teeth, and at least googling what it would take to make our cars run on biodiesel, there has also been […]
The New York Times Small Business section is a great complement to the traditional business page of the newspaper. While the traditional page veers towards finance and large questions like national trade law, this section filters that same news — as well as offer advice and editorials — for small business owners. Today, the paper […]
They say Corporate America has no sense of humor. Are they right? Find out by following Write The Company a consumer humor blog consisting of crazy consumer affairs and customer service letters about everyday products, services and brands and what the companies behind them had to say about it. Every Thursday, Zengage brings […]
If there’s ever been a reason to fly Cebu Pacific Air, it’s because the flight attendants are freakin’ rad. Everybody knows that even the perkiest flight attendant doesn’t have a prayer of holding any passenger’s attention once he or she launches into the whole, “ok, so when the plane begins spiraling out of control and […]
