Most of our encounters with start-up companies in the digital world have been less than desirable. Because they are new and often overwhelmed by their growth, service often takes a backseat. But that happens less and less today, as the growth of social media means that not only do service gaffes hurt new companies’ prospects, but also that incredible service can itself drive word-of-mouth. Some companies, such as Zappos, have made customer service their main marketing tool. Lately I’ve encountered two newer companies’ customer service efforts–one good, and one poor–that offer tips on the right way to run your own company and another way to deliver Marketing with Meaning.

The Good: Poll Everywhere

This is a relatively new service that we’ve been using to create live SMS-based polls during powerpoint presentations.  Think of Poll Everywhere as a version of those devices that are sometimes handed out in big events and used to get immediately feedback and answers from the audience.  Except that this is much cheaper to create (even free versions are available) and can be done with nothing more than a basic mobile phone.  Within seconds you can create a poll and add a live, updating PowerPoint slide to your presentation. There are a variety of monthly service plans for the tool.

In terms of customer service, what I really loved about Poll Everywhere is that it sends you an email reminder two days before you are charged again for the service.  This worked well for me, as I recently traded up to the more expensive plan in order to use the service for a very large presentation I was giving. But in the month ahead I do not have a similar need. So this warning email allowed me to trade back down at a significant cost savings.

This simple step comes at some cost for Poll Everywhere, of course. I likely would have forgotten about my monthly fee for a month or more, giving the company additional revenue.  Further, I would have blamed myself for being dumb, not the company for continuing to charge me a rate that I chose to accept. By helping me spend my money wisely, Poll Everywhere earned my trust and my positive word-of-mouth.

I wish more companies would earn my trust and loyalty this way. Why doesn’t Netflix proactively offer me the opportunity to trade down to one movie per month when I go a long time between rentals? What if your gym or country club offered to reduce your monthly fee when it notices that you’re not going as often as your plan allows?  “Crazy,” I know, but in reality such moves engender enormous trust, and in most cases help retain customers who would be much more likely to opt out entirely after a few months of overspending.

The Bad: iStockphoto

iStockphoto has actually been around for more than four years, but it is still seems to be a small online start-up to me. It is one of a handful of low-cost stock photography sellers. I first learned about the service from Guy Kawasaki and used it when I began blogging a few years ago.  The price of $1 per image was right for my modest needs, and the company offered discounts when you bought credits in bulk.  It has been a good service that I recommend to others and we use the service from time to time at our agency.

But I was unpleasantly surprised a few months ago to receive an email from iStockphoto, explaining that my 100 credits would be expiring this week.  I was mystified by this message and policy. Maybe somewhere in the fine print the company explained that there was an expiration date for these credits, but this was certainly not obvious, and is completely inconsistent with just about any other service I have come across. As a regular user of iStockphoto, it’s not like I was some lapsed customer with a liability they needed to phase out.  I had about $100 that I was in danger of leaving on the table because the company arbitrarily decided to take these electronic bits away.

Although it was at least smart to warn me months in advance that my credits would expire, the act of stealing my money this way is outrageous. Remember, the company already got my money, and keeping record of my credits costs nothing. I believe this is incredibly shortsighted and bad for business. After all, there are many other places to secure stock photography, and the Internet makes it easier to set this up every day. By screwing over its customers for no real gain, iStockphoto ends up generating continuous waves of negative word-of-mouth. I did a quick Google search for “istockphoto credit expiration” and found several negative reviews. Count me as one person who will never use iStockphoto again, and who will look for ways to use my influence to weaken the company wherever possible.

Customer service is not an afterthought or something to “be managed.”  Rather, in the connected world of social media it is at the front lines of building trust and earning word-of-mouth–it’s Marketing with Meaning.