No Product Found

I want to share with you here, an example of how not to do multichannel marketing. Here’s what happened:

I received at home a catalog from the premiere merchant of personal organizers, and I decided to buy two units of one of its sale items. But the catalog’s call center is open only Monday through Friday, and it was a Sunday when I decided to buy.

So I fired up my home computer, logged on to the merchant’s Web site and plugged in the SKU. As I was working, I thought this little shopping spree probably would take only a few minutes.

Up popped an error message: “No product found.” I figured I probably keyed the SKU incorrectly, so I tried again. Still not found. Tried once more. Still nothing.

No matter. I clicked on “shop from the catalog.” It asked for the page number (pg. 35), which I keyed in. Up popped page 35 — but from another edition of the merchant’s catalog, not the one it had sent to me. This was so, even though I had given the key number from the back of the print catalog I was holding in my hand.

Undaunted, I tried the search function: Folio Slim Leather Zippered Binder. I figured, I can’t go wrong if I plug in the exact name of the item. Up popped, I’m not kidding, 15 pages of products — only a few of which had the words Folio Slim Leather Zippered Binder in them. (I know it was 15 pages because I actually printed it, partially out of disbelief.)

I even tried typing in the SKU of the sale product that was pictured in my catalog next to the product I wanted. It came up all right, but at the full price, not at the sale price as per the print catalog in my hand.

By this time I gave up trying to order these items via the Web, and obviously I couldn’t order from their call center since it was closed. Two days later, during the week, I called the company and learned the items were backordered, although that shouldn’t have given me the online error messages. Within two weeks the items arrived in great shape. I’m sure my husband and I will get a lot of use out of these handsome portfolios.

But here’s my point: To send a customer to a Web site because of restricted call center hours, and then allow that Web site to be difficult to navigate and search, and filled with errors, can do a business a grave disservice. And bear in mind, I’m someone who understands how difficult it is to offer excellent channel integration, and as you can see, I’m relatively adept at getting around a site’s faults. Imagine the frustration of customers and prospects who aren’t understanding or resourceful.