Having lived through a few hurricanes now I can personally tell you the destruction we Houstonians have seen with Ike is incredible.  With a great deal of luck my family didn’t suffer any harm and although we had trees down, water, sewer and electricity issues the overall situation is good.  A tragedy like this makes you appreciate those friends and colleagues you know – and I’d like to thank all of you who have emailed and phoned to check in on us… it is greatly appreciated.

I’ll tell you of a FANTASTIC experience I had and it has a marketing and customer service angle to it.  I’m an Allstate customer – have most of my insurance coverage with them.  What I found amazing is that within 24 hours after the hurricane hit, I had voice mails on my cell phone & work number regarding the claims process.  For instance, the message instructed me who to call, the number, that they were overstaffed to help answer the increased calls, etc.  In fact, I didn’t even need to have my policy number they said they’d find it for me. 

And when I called…. I waited a mere minute or two before I was pleasantly greeted by a Customer Service Rep.  Wow – what an experience… proactive help and what do you bet I’ll think twice about ever switching insurance based on that proactive marketing and assistance.

We should all look at these types of “digital” solutions to assist our customers… from the use of email, text messages, etc. to drive better experience.

Congrats to the Allstate Customer Service and Marketing Teams!!

Scott