Can CRM Sometimes Try Too Hard?

I recently had to have some work done on my car. All went well, as usual, with this dealer. I was pleased with the experience. I usually am with this dealer. That is part of why I stay with them.

Then came the phone call. “How did we do?” they asked. Fine, I responded. As expected. “Please rate us on a 1 – 10 scale.”. Nine I guess. It was good. But there was some room to amaze me. “What could we do to get to a 10?”. Now I was starting to get annoyed. I ended the call.

Then the email came. They too wanted to know how they did. Then the text. Then a follow up call from a third party. Enough already! My satisfaction was noticeably dropping, even though the initial transaction had been fine.

This got me thinking. Can a firm sometimes try too hard to “delight” the customer? I think the answer is yes. A lot has to do with the relative importance of the transaction. In this case, it was a reasonable simple one. My expectations were that it would be fine and indeed it was. So a simple question about meeting my expectations would have been fine. I didn’t need to be hounded about my answer.

Had it been more involved, a fully questionnaire would have made sense. But not in this case.  But that reflects the fact that firms need to think in terms of the appropriate level of soliciting feedback. Simple transaction, simple question. Involve transaction, involved questions. Not all experiences are of equal importance. Our CRM strategies should reflect that.