FreshBooks Goes the Extra Mile
FreshBooks is a billing web application that allows people to send, track and collect online payments. I don't use FreshBooks (I generally have no one to invoice) and I don't know much about the Ontario, Canada-based company, but judging from their web site, which features no less than 15 testimonials on the front page from "happy users," it seems apparent that customer service is important to them.
Yesterday we were tipped off to an interesting blog post from a technology company in Fiji called Oceanic. A Freshbooks customer for nearly 2 years, Jonathan (whom we gather works at the company), lamented on the Oceanic blog about a day last April when the FreshBooks team was crooning over two new flavors of Triscuits: Rosemary and Olive Oil, and Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil. "I can’t believe how good these taste," wrote Mike McDerment, of FreshBooks.
Bummed that the new snack cracker varieties were not available in his tiny island nation, Jonathan posted a comment to the FreshBooks blog threatening -- in jest -- to cancel his FreshBooks subscription if the company kept posting about mouth watering delicacies that were unavailable to him. Yesterday, many months after the initial post on the FreshBooks blog, Jonathon returned to his desk from a morning meeting to find a package air mailed from Canada. Inside the parcel: two boxes of Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits (the tastier of the two flavors, according to FreshBooks).
"I'm tempted to go on and on about the social implications of people just doing nice things for the sake of doing them," wrote Jonathon on his company's blog, "but I'll refrain from that and simply write: FreshBooks, you've got a customer for a life and yet one more person to sing your praises to the masses."
FreshBooks obviously understands one very important part of building viral buzz for your company: keep your customers happy and they will evangelize your products. That doesn't mean giving in to every feature that anyone requests, and it doesn't even mean always agreeing with your customers -- the old aphorism that the customer is always right, isn't always, well, right! But doing the little things that allow you to form a connection with your customers on a personal level can score you a lot of capital with them. Sometimes, gaining a customer for life is as simple as sending a box of crackers overseas.
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I've been a user and huge fan of Freshbooks for some time now. A few weeks ago, I got a personal call from their co-founder and CEO Mike McDerment because he was visiting my town for a conference and wanted to invite me out to dinner. I wasn't able to go, but the invitation left a lasting impression.
Whats the need for them? There is paypal already and moneybookers etc.
I'm very happy with freshbooks, they have done everything right when it comes to customer relations. A while ago they had lost like 1 hour of data due to hardware failures. They posted a public excuse, kept everyone up-to-date on the status with their blog and upgraded ALL accounts with extra clients. They handled that situation very well. Fact is, all companies will lose data sometime, the main point is how they can handle a situation like that. And from Freshbooks you can expect their full support when a situation like this occurs (although they learned and have a much better backup protocol now). A lot of companies can learn from these guys. Oh btw, their software is neat too, I'm using it even when they still called it 2ndsite.biz I believe.
I've been a using fresh books for a while. For the most part the experience has been good, they're trying to improve the usability of the site (still needs improvement) and they kept threatening to close my account due to a lack of activity (I took a fulltime gig for a while so there wasn't a need for the service for a few months but I still wanted to keep the invoices in the service).
hey , if Google can send out SWAG to their users.. Why should not Freshbook eh ?? and yea Mike McDerment is a nice person that I have met when he org'ed the Mesh06 event in Toronto !!
and yes.. canucks have a big hearts :)-
great post, Josh -- funny how something as small as a box of crackers can differentiate a company, huh? good for FreshBooks!
This is a classic example of the power of Reciprocity (one of the 6 universal principles of persuasion), specifically the use of a "Significant, Personalized and Unexpected" gift to influence behavior.
I too am a very satisfied customer of FreshBooks. I've been with them since they were called Second Site. I've watched them grown, spoken personally with many members of their staff, and have always been left with one overwhelming fact: these are people who authentically care about not only their customers, but their product too.
It doesn't surprise me that they sent the box of crackers overseas like that. They are a great little company that has a passion for what they do. And it shows.
@lester:
Because those tools are clumsy and unprofessional. Some of us care a little bit more about how we come across to our own clients, and want to automate the billing process as much as possible. At least that's why I use Fresh Books. I don't want to look like a bozo.
zelc4ta