Customer service creates bigger fans.

I wrote a long while ago about an audio interface I bought, the Focusrite Saffire, which I bought used off eBay. I just love the sound of its converters. But recently I had some trouble with it when I could not get signals out of its mic pres, which meant I couldn’t use my condenser mics with it. Though I had a workaround through another piece of gear, I did miss the sound of the Saffire. I wasn’t too upset about it, though, because, after all — I bought it used.

The other day after a hard drive crash I had the time consuming task of replacing authorizations for my various programs, including the software that came with the Saffire. Since I was already writing Focusrite, I told them about my bad mic pres and asked if the new Saffires had different ones that would not go south on me.

The Focusrite tech not only replaced my authorization without hassle but he further wrote:

You would probably be better off getting your Saffire repaired rather than spending a load of cash on a brand new one.

And then he gave me the contact for their repair person in the U.S. Now, I’m sure some would say this was a sales faux pas, directing a consumer to a repair over a new purchse, but it is anything but an error. When a company does that, I have a reason to believe they have my interests at heart, that they honestly want happy customers, and that they understand that in this economy, new sales will be harder to come by. Better to keep the current customers, loyal.  And now  I’m more likely to have this brand at the top of my list when the time is right for hardware upgrades.

These are the little things, the battles and engagements that win for brands. Here’s another example from Ford I just stumbled on today via Andy Serovitz.