Complete customer care

A major oil company developed a composite wood product using sawdust and recycled plastic, which is perfect for home decks.

Compared with traditional wood decking, the composite has many advantages — including low maintenance. However, the composite expands more than wood, so it requires specific gapping techniques when the deck is being built.  And it is more pliable than wood in high heat, so it has different structural support design requirements. 

After building awareness through advertising, consumer acceptance was positive.  However, over time the client came to realize:

• They were neither equipped nor staffed to handle the volume of inquiries internally.
• Improper installation techniques were causing customer complaints.

The solution was a program TMP Direct developed to (a) manage consumer inquiries and (b) to provide technical support to the contracting community to reduce future customer complaints:

• A customer care team addresses consumer complaints about care and maintenance, including educating consumers on cleaning and maintenance techniques.  We even worked with the client to provide free care and cleaning materials.
• A very focused factory-trained product specialist team provides a high level of technical assistance to contractors and builders via phone and email.
• We developed a warranty claims process that handles requests for repairs or replacement.

The result has been astounding.  There's a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction.  Warranty claims have dropped by over 50% in two years.  95% of issues are resolved in one call to the TMP Direct staff.  And the company has been able to make dramatic improvements all the while driving down its customer care costs.