July 2006 - Posts

• Dell and The Better Business Bureau

  Mon. Jul. 31, 2006
  by Lynn A. Tyson, VP—IR & Global Corp. Comm.
  A research report by Moors & Cabot appeared last week that gave an inaccurate picture of Better Business Bureau statistics and observations on Dell’s customer satisfaction.
  
  Conclusions drawn from the statistics reflected a lack of understanding how our Direct Model and the BBB work when it comes to complaints.  The BBB shared our concerns on how their data had been extrapolated and wrote Moors & Cabot a letter on this point and others, which we have included below.  The original report by Moors & Cabot is proprietary so we can not link to it but its false conclusions were shared with the media and resulted in a distortion of the facts.
  
  We are a direct company – in our model we sell directly to our customers – and we are the first point of accountability when they have a problem.  At Dell we are capable of responding to the customer faster and we are investing heavily to ensure we do. This is in contrast to other computer companies who use resellers or retailers to sell their products.  In that model, a customer may have many different points of contact to attempt to resolve a problem.  Using BBB data, researchers can easily capture the data on Dell, and our numbers are likely to always be higher than indirect companies unless there is a complete analysis of all available data from BBB offices nationwide that factors in resellers and retailers.  This Moors & Cabot did not do.  
  
  Dell has been a BBB member since 1989 and we have a very close and productive relationship that includes a Web-based tool to expedite complaint resolution.  By mutual agreement, the local Austin office handles all of our customer complaints from coast to coast. Their staff is integral to our ability to deliver quality service to our U.S. customers.  In the past three years, they’ve fielded about 46,000 inquiries from potential customers seeking information on our track record and helped us resolve about 15,000 customer complaints.  (In the spirit of full disclosure, Dell makes cash and in-kind contributions to the BBB along with many other members with a vested interest in its continued success.)
  
  So how’re we doing lately? Complaints are down about 40% since the same time last year. Right now our BBB complaints are running at roughly .03% -- that’s about three customers out of every 10,000, and we resolve 100% of the complaints. We’re also pleased with the level of transparency.  100% of Dell’s BBB complaints are documented for public record.  
  
  So, these are the facts.  Based on how customer complaints are actually handled in an industry of direct and non-direct companies, the report was off the mark in stating that our satisfaction level in the consumer segment might be “an order of magnitude” lower than some of our competitors.  
  
  Meanwhile, we plan to stay focused on improving the Dell customer experience overall—something that should drive the number of Dell complaints to the BBB down even further.
  
  Here is the letter from Carrie Hurt, president/CEO of the local BBB to Moors & Cabot. 
  
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• The Home Page

  Sun. Jul. 30, 2006
  by Manish Mehta, VP—Global e-Commerce

  Let's talk about the home page of Dell.com. Many of you have commented about things you liked and things you didn’t like. Here are four of your abbreviated comments to my first post:

  “Make it easy for me to define systems by my work profile and give me more guidance on what technologies could benefit me more than others. If I'm building it, I'm then likely to buy more"

  "Why don't you just show me the different products and I'll decide if I want to use it at my office or my house."

  "The removal of enforced segmentation high up in the buying path is the first step, it's 10 years overdue frankly. It is not however gone, but that is a larger internal organizational problem that Dell has to overcome."

  "To combat the poster above, I decided to see if I could find the drivers for the Dell I'm using right now. It took me about 10 seconds. I like the new homepage interface."

  No question about it. We still have plenty of opportunity for improvement. But I ask you, is the new version of the home page better than the previous version?
  

  
  
  Determined to get to the heart of what bothered you about our former home page, my team spent hours with customers, conducted numerous focus groups and created countless versions of the home page design.

  Three themes emerged in much of the feedback:
  

  1) Simplicity. It was too cluttered; too many choices.  Home page was overwhelming.

  2) Show me the products. There were no products on the home page. None.

  3) Avoid segmentation. Don't force me to segment myself.

  Seems simple, right? It's just one page—how hard can that possibly be?

  The challenge is that this page is the gateway for how customers interact with Dell. With the volume of traffic that comes through that page—and the amount of business that is conducted—any redesign efforts around Dell.com can't be taken lightly. After 6+ months of testing and user feedback, we implemented the design you see today.

  The new page is less cluttered than the previous one. Maybe not as clean or usable as Apple’s site, but we remain focused on designing our site around the increasingly complex needs of a growing range of customers.

  I believe Apple’s site is well designed. It also does a nice job incorporating a consistent masthead. But Dell.com is a different Web site designed to serve different customer needs, and, I think, possibly harder to design and manage (but that’s for one of my future posts).

  The previous version of the Dell.com home page forced you to pick what type of user you were and guided you within that segment. Products became secondary. Many users have provided feedback that they preferred to navigate by products. We made some changes, so you can now navigate by products initially, but we still ask you to identify what 'segment' you best represent.

  Why? Just show me all the products you offer and let me decide . . .

  Seems like a fairly easy thing to do… Can't be that hard, right?

  Unfortunately, it is a bit more complicated than just changing links. When you call Dell on the phone we have specific phone numbers depending on your customer type. This way we can offer you the right product, the best solutions & accessories, and the proper warranty/services coverage for your system.

  We think this creates greater value by providing information that is relevant to your specific needs. Having said this, we will continue to look for ways to simplify the site experience… our work is not done.

  Home pages can be sacred territory, but even some of the most popular undergo a change (see Yahoo!). There are some compelling and usable home pages across the Web. Howerever, many more are still way too busy and feel overwhelming.

  So, tell me, what you think of the home page of Dell.com? Is it better or worse?
  
  
  
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• Dell Store Opens its Doors in Dallas

  Wed. Jul. 26, 2006
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger
  Yesterday we opened the first pilot Dell retail store at NorthPark Center in Dallas, Texas.  It's not a departure from our direct model—it's simply an extension of our kiosk strategy.  Like the kiosks, we will not carry  inventory at this store.  Here, customers will be able to see Dell products up close.  They can also place an online order right from the store. What will we do with the extra space?  We'll use it to showcase different usage environments to help customers envision how they can use Dell technology in their home or office.  In this vlog, Jim Skelding, Director - Dell Stores, walks you through the Dallas store. 
  

  

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• Designed For You, Not the Shelf of a Superstore

  Wed. Jul. 26, 2006
  by Ken Musgrave, Director—Experience Design Group
  Most people understand that the direct model helps us deliver better value by eliminating the middle man and establishing a personal relationship with our customers. What’s not as obvious is how much that relationship with tens of thousands of customers can influence the thinking of the Industrial Design and Usability of our products.
  
  One of the best demonstrations of the advantage we have can be seen by comparing the user interface on our consumer multi-function printer line with those of our competitors.

  Our consumer multifunction printer line (Models 944, 964) utilizes a clean and intuitive user interface (UI)  designed to simplify the user experience by eliminating clutter and focusing the user to a simple, 5-way, navigation control and a 2.5” color display. This allows the user to easily select the function of choice—be it print, scan, copy or fax and with minimal input. 
  

  By listening to the customer, developing prototypes, and testing them with real end-users, our design team found that this intuitive and simple solution was greatly preferred to the cluttered user interfaces of our competitor’s multifunction printing products.

  So why don’t our competitors implement a similar design to ours? Why do they add unnecessary or redundant buttons that are confusing the user and a barrier to a positive user experience? It’s because they are designing for the shelves of the electronic superstores and not for you.

  Apparently our competition has found that the more buttons on the control panel, the more functionality that buyer will assume the product has. Thus, they put a group of buttons to ensure the customer knows it prints, another group so they know it will fax, more to scan, even more to copy, and so on. This apparently helps them sell their product instead of the product sitting next to them on the shelf. However, it also results in a poor customer experience once the product gets home. The vast array of buttons is confusing or even intimidating. It is not uncommon to hear end users in our labs, when asked to perform simple tasks on our competitor’s products, make a comment like, “I know it can fax, I just don’t know how to make it fax.”

  Having direct access to our customers, designing with the sole purpose of meeting their needs, and being able to deliver a product that is uncompromised and uncluttered because we don't have to compete in the “pick me, I have more buttons” competition is a true advantage.

  Thanks,
  Ken Musgrave & Steve Gluskoter, Directors of Industrial Design

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• Dell Customer Advocates in the Blogosphere

  Tue. Jul. 25, 2006
  by Downs Deering, Director – Service Delivery Program

  Before we established a presence in the blogosphere, we had been reading your thoughts on Dell. Some posts were good, some were bad, but the most concerning were those that were from customers who had outstanding support issues. In April this year, we decided to do something about it: we began monitoring blogs to find customers who needed help from Dell support. We use a mix of common tools like Technorati and de.licio.us along with some internal apps to track these efforts. Sometimes our blog support reps e-mail customers directly when their address is published, or they may choose to post directly to a user’s blog. As part of this blog outreach, I contacted a BuzzMachine reader last week that had an issue with not receiving a follow-up call from a support agent.

  Looking at posts specifically related to outstanding issues, not surprisingly, most are negative in nature. Many folks are happy to hear from us (Gaming Hobo, B.L. Ochman, and Jill Pyle); others are really happy (Under Cherry’s Moon); very few aren’t (can’t link to due to profanity). One surprise—customers not responding to our inquiries is a more common occurance than we would have thought (for instance, an update on Renata—a Customer Advocate team member first reached out to this customer in mid-June and a couple of times since then). Of course, with all the "stranger danger" out there in terms of viruses etc., the lower response rate is less surprising.  Now that you know Dell is proactively reaching out to you, we hope the response rate will increase.
  

  With the launch of Dell’s blog, we now have another way to connect with users in the blogosphere. As most of you know, we direct your support requests over to some the same people responsible for blog outreach. We originally started monitoring only a subset of English blogs. Just recently, we’ve expanded our search to look through many of the millions of English blogs that Technorati currently tracks. Since we started, we have reached out to hundreds of Dell customers through this program—still a very small number by comparison to other avenues of support, but one we expect will keep increasing over time.

  Finding and supporting customers in the blogosphere is a difficult and risky undertaking. It does, however, allow us to address many ongoing issues head on. And when the process results in resolution of a customer issue, we think it’s clearly worth the effort.

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• XPS 700 Order Cancelled?

  Mon. Jul. 24, 2006
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger
  Several of you have commented on the blog or the Dell Community Forum that your order has been cancelled.  Here's what I need you to do:
  

  • Go here to this thread on the Dell Community Forum
  • Enter the following information in your DCF Personal Profile (none of this will be published):
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Current e-mail address
    
  • Order Number
  • Customer Number
  • From there, enter a post on that Dell Community Forum thread

  Once we have this information, a Dell rep will contact you to help reorder your system.  You will be given the chance to either upgrade the processor or opt for the gift card—just as if your order had not been cancelled.   No way I can provide specific details on when you will be contacted.  We will work through these as quickly as we can.
  
  Thanks for your patience.
  
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• Prevention Is The Best Medicine

  Fri. Jul. 21, 2006
  by Laura Bosworth, Director - WW Customer Experience
  Okay, I’ve received some flak (guess I’d better get used to that!) for taking so long to post again.  I promise to try to get better juggling my day job with this blogging hobby I signed up for.  You want us to be more specific about fixes and give more details of what we are doing.  Here are four key changes we have made in the last 3 months, in the US.    
  
  Rebate Center: We have launched a web “Rebate Center” to streamline your ability to find this information.  This has been a very frustrating process for customers and in fact was the # 1 reason cited for dissatisfaction (based on customer surveys) with the order process in the US.  You will no longer have to search all over the website to find the right form and, in fact, the forms themselves have been improved.  Now, as soon as the products ship, the forms are auto-populated with the required information so all you have to do is print and mail them in along with a copy of your packing slips.  We have seen a drop in calls from customers who can’t find the forms so we believe this change is helping.  
  
  Simplifying Pricing: You may have also seen the announcement last week about our intent to simplify pricing so that you don’t have to scramble around or worry about finding hidden deals.  We’ll blog more about this in the future.
  
  Order Status Improvements: Even on this blog, there have been complaints (yes, really, complaints) about confusing communications from us about order status and shipping dates.  In fact, checking on order status is the # 1 reason you call us (based on actual number of contacts) during the order process.  We have already made some fixes and are working on more of them.  First, we have overhauled the look and information in our e-mails to be less “Dell-speak” and more inline with the info you are interested in.  For example (and this is kinda funny in an odd corporate world way) we used to provide you with a description of the product you bought and it looked something like this: DIM B110 CEL D 2.53.  What? That doesn’t mean anything to you, you say?   Well it meant a lot to our manufacturing systems.  Right.  Instead we have replaced this with descriptions that should help you verify that the order is in fact what you wanted: Dimension B110, Celeron Processor 2.53 GHz.  We have also fixed disconnects in our system as to when orders have shipped.  Previously, our online order status may not have had the same information as the service or sales rep and that may have been different from the e-mail.  But now they are connected, and if for some reason the ship date is revised, all the tools are updated together.  We still have more to do to continue simplifying and improving the accuracy of this information.  For example, we want to be more precise about your actual delivery date (when will it show up on your doorstep) and not just provide an estimated date for when it will leave our factory.  We look forward to introducing this capability in the fall.  For those of you who like to know why things take so long, we have this order information in multiple IT systems and tools.  The projects to integrate and synchronize the data are complex.  This means that the fixes are staggered over a few months.  My apologies to those of you who think these are excuses (you know who you are) but some people actually seemed interested in getting some insight into why things are the way they are. And while, I have been talking about specific fixes for the US, my colleagues in Europe and Asia have the same issues with similar projects in place to correct.
  
  Getting Credit For Any Returns: The final fix is around getting credit for any returns that you make.  Show me the money… this has been a painful process for you.  Historically, Dell had a policy not to issue the refund money until the returned products made it into our warehouses and could be accounted for.  Unfortunately, this whole process typically took 4-6 weeks.  We are already starting to improve this timeframe.  By the end of the year, we aim to cut the return credit turnaround time to a week.   Meanwhile, we are working to eliminate some of the pain points by providing better visibility to you on the status of the credit and ensuring our reps have more detailed info they can provide.  
  
  So, as I have said before, we have a laser focus on resolving your problems.  The improvements described above will make things easier for you and we believe they will actually prevent you from having problems.  They prevent problems in finding the best prices, they prevent problems with understanding what the heck is happening with your order and they prevent problems in getting a rebate or a credit after your Dell purchase has arrived.  Stay tuned, as we continue to add Dell bloggers who will share details with you of what we are doing to resolve your problems when you have them but perhaps more importantly in the long run…to prevent them from happening in the first place.
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• No Bloatware, Please

  Fri. Jul. 21, 2006
  by Michelle Pearcy, WW Client Software Manager
  Lots of chatter these days on why Dell pre-loads so much software on new systems.  Several of you have asked about how this software affects performance, some have commented about the sheer number of apps, and others have expressed confusion as to which apps they can remove.  
  
  For many Dell customers, having pre-loaded software that allows them to play back digital music, edit digital photos, and protect their new systems from viruses and spyware is a positive thing.   Does that mean all of our customers like it?  No.  Over the past several months we have listened to feedback and taken action.  Here’s a couple of improvements:
  

  • Limited software install - We’ve been offering “Limited software install” on many of our XPS gaming systems and Small Business systems.  In both cases, only the operating system and antivirus/ spyware software is loaded.  For those that want no software installed, the XPS 700 BYO customers (from link, click the Design Tab, then  Build Your Own from the drop-down) can order the system without a hard drive.  All of these options are a direct result of conversations with our customers.  
  • Clean the Clutter -  We also made significant changes to the way software is organized and discovered on all desktops and notebook PCs.  If you have purchased a Dimension or Inspiron PC from Dell since April, you will notice a significant change to the desktop environment – instead of 21 icons we now have less than 10 (depending on your configuration at point of sale).  The software that is pre-installed is now grouped into useful buckets depending on what you want to do with your PC – internet access, education/support, entertainment, etc.   We also include a brief description of the value of the application – you no longer have to launch the software to figure it out.  Finally, if you would prefer to remove the pre-loaded software, you are directed to the “Uninstall Programs” section of your desktop for easy removal.  In this video, Jeremy Friedlander from the software team demonstrates the end result.

  

  
  
  We are also in the process of streamlining the system tray and quick launch sections of the desktop which will improve boot time and other performance metrics.  However, our performance tests in the lab have not found significant improvements by removing software trials and other executables—most of our software sits quietly on the desktop until you launch it.  The two culprits we have highlighted in our labs include the OS and security applications—both critical to using and maintaining the integrity of your PC.  However, we continue to streamline what we ship and provide more choice to our customers when they buy a new system.
  
  Our goal is to provide useful pre-loaded software to our customers that want it, while giving intuitive options to customers that don’t.  We’ll stay focused on finding that balance.
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• XPS 700: 10 Questions

  Thu. Jul. 20, 2006
  by Mary Joseph Miller, XPS Product Team
  Everyone, thanks for your patience regarding the XPS 700.  We've received a lot of questions asking for more information.  I answer some of the most common ones below.  We can't always give you all the details, and when we can't, we'll tell you. 
  
  Before doing that, wanted to confirm that we began building Pentium D and Pentium Extreme-based XPS 700 systems a few minutes ago.  We do have a backlog to work through, but production is happening as we speak.
  
  1. Will the XPS 700 support Core 2 processors? If I ordered an XPS 700 with a Pentium D processor will I be able to upgrade it with a Core 2 processor later on my own?
  Yes, all XPS 700 motherboards will accommodate Pentium D, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors.  Customers just need the new processor and a BIOS update, which will be available on support.dell.com.  Upgrading the processor from a Pentium D to a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme will not require a motherboard upgrade.
  
  2. How will Dell make it up to customers who have been waiting patiently for their XPS 700 orders to ship?
  Due to the delays many of you have experienced, we will provide an option of either a free upgrade to a Core 2 Duo processor or a Dell gift card for all those who have ordered systems as of up until July 18, 2006.  We ask for your continued patience as we roll out communication to our customer care and sales teams.  Customers should wait until Dell contacts them regarding the status of their orders.
  
  3. If I accept Dell's offer to upgrade my order to Core 2 how will it affect my shipping date? 
  Unfortunately, this option will extend your wait time—due to contractual arrangements, we can’t provide a specific delivery time at this point.  We apologize for not being able to give you a ship date at this time.
  
  4. What specifically caused the delay on the XPS 700? 
  The delay in shipping the XPS 700 resulted from a combination of issues that came to the surface soon after launching the product.  For competitive reasons, we can’t go into specific details.  We can say that the issues were not related to many of the rumors you may have seen in the blogosphere, such as a processor inventory issue. 
  
  We have always intended to offer this system with Pentium D processors and we’ll continue to support Pentium D  after Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme are available. We did not want to compromise on quality or performance and we did not want to ship a system to customers until it passed our tests.
  
  5. When will customers receive their XPS 700s?
  We are currently ramping production on XPS 700 systems with Pentium D and Pentium Extreme processors.  This week, a centralized Dell team will begin contacting customers on the dates they should expect to receive their XPS 700 systems. 
  
  6. If I ordered my system with a Pentium D processor, which Core 2 Duo processor will I get in exchange?
  We plan to upgrade Pentium D orders with different tiered Core 2 processors.  However, specifics will vary depending on individual orders.  The Dell customer rep will provide the processor options to customers. We will make those calls as quickly as we can.
  
  7. How much is the gift card?
  We haven’t determined that yet, but you’ll get details from your Dell customer rep.
  
  8. Can a customer upgrade their Core 2 processor to an higher clock speed processor at additional cost?
  Yes, you can discuss the details with your customer rep.
  
  9. Is the system warranty voided if I install my own Core 2 processor later on? 
  Upgrading is optional and recommended using parts purchased from Dell.  Should customers choose to upgrade using parts, components or accessories not purchased from Dell, problems caused by using them are not covered by Dell's warranty.
  
  10. Can I overclock the processor on the XPS 700?
  

  Yes, you can.  Customers can overclock the processor areas of system performance via applications like nTune, but we will not ship the system overclocked.   All processors we support (Pentium D, Pentium Extreme, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme) can be overclocked by the user.  Graphics solutions can also be overclocked via applications like nTune.   
  

  
  The XPS700 system is overclockable via applications like the nTune application.  Specifically, Dell allows users to performance optimize various key parameters such as: Front side bus speed (results in reported increase in CPU speed without changing the multiplier); system memory timing and voltage; PCI Express bus speed; graphics processor speed (when used with nVidia graphics cards); and graphics memory speed (when used with nVidia graphics cards).
  
  We believe this enhanced system level control will provide performance enthusiasts the ability to individually tune and profile key characteristics to enhance their system performance.
  
  In addition, just so you are aware of Lionel's comment about the callback process, he noted earlier this afternoon:
  

  Your processor transition options will depend on what you ordered.  I'm reading lots of questions that will vary by user. 
  
  Here's how the callback process will work:
  We're using a centralized team to handle all callbacks—it's the most efficient way to ensure that you talk to reps who can provide all your options.  That's why some of you who have called Dell have reached reps that don't have the answers. 
  
  We hope to begin callbacks by tomorrow; they will be done in order of your original order date.  No way I can provide individual ETAs for callbacks—but we will work through them as quickly as we can.
  
  Please wait for a callback from Dell.  We know it's important to you, and we appreciate your patience.
  

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• Comment Moderation Redux

  Wed. Jul. 19, 2006
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger
  There's been some misreportings about this in the blogosphere. 
  
  Let me be clear, we read 100% of the comments and there is no censorship or banning of users.  All comments are reviewed and posted—good or bad—as long as they fall within our Rules of Engagement.  We will not ever ban any of you for submitting a request for product support.  However, instead of posting these requests for support, I will route them to the teams that can actually do something about it.
  
  This process has led to several succesful outreaches, including Rick's outreach to B.L. Ochman.  For a more direct route, you can bypass me altogether and send an e-mail to support.  This information will always be available in the Contact Us page.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, I am still working to add an e-mail field (optional, not published) in the Comments section.  This information allows the support team to contact you.
  
  We do want to hear your specific ideas on things that need to be improved, as well as ideas on how to improve them.  Of course, we're happy to receive compliments as well, just so you don't forget.
  
  
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