ServiceStars

Recently, an independent consulting firm called Etruvian Consulting conducted a benchmark of online poker sites' customer support. The testing company used a "mystery shopper" approach, asking the sites' customer support various questions and grading the responses on categories similar to response time, product knowledge, and friendliness.

When the numbers were tallied up, PokerStars won. We're always delighted to be recognized for our customer support (it is a core component to our business) but frankly, nobody here's surprised.

Since the beginning, the bosses here have emphasized the things that actually define the client experience. Of course, the original thing about customer support for an internet company is that that's the place where our customers are perhaps to come across PokerStars people. I mean, we adore meeting you at places similar to the VIP Club Live and the PCA, however the huge majority of you are going to meet us only whilst you email support@pokerstars.com.

In short, our customer support persons are the human face of PokerStars.

Read that again: our customer support persons are the human face of PokerStars. That makes it difficult to over-emphasize the significance of excellent customer service, and we've taken that time to heart for the reason that beginning.

I can remember sitting in on CSR ("CUSTOMER SUPPORT Representative") training back in 2003. Having had years within the computer business (both as an employee and a customer), I USED TO BE all too accustomed to the minimal training many customer support reps got. But I saw that PokerStars was facing an intense and very selective hiring process. The folk that we do hire, we treat extremely well and we train the living daylights out of them.

Why wouldn't we? To virtually every person of our customers, these individuals are PokerStars.

This is exemplified by folks comparable to Eva and Ana, whom I met back in 2003 or 2004. They're now senior members of the client service team and what they do not know about taking good care of our players really isn't worth learning.

Or Shahnaz, who's a senior manager within the customer support organization. She is a no-nonsense woman whose eyes flash dangerous when she senses that her team (and by extension, her players) aren't getting what they want. You'll discover the girl herself discuss working at PokerStars on this video.

The excellent news is that the buyer service team just about gets what they need, after they need it. There's a cultural understanding at PokerStars that customer support is crucially important; nobody gets indignant after we bend things of their direction.

Furthermore, this carries right to the players. I DO NOT know if I've ever heard it officially said this way, however the general idea is "SEARCH FOR the way to say 'Yes'." Give them the proper information as quickly as you'll be able to; if they're soliciting for something, see if there is a approach to give it to them. We cannot always say "Yes," but it isn't for an absence of trying.

If you consider it, it is not that complicated. Those people who work at PokerStars are consumers too. As individuals, we take care of customer support organizations always (a few of that point as players at online poker sites rather then PokerStars). On some level, we're always comparing ourselves to the service we get elsewhere. We ask, "If I were the individual approaching PokerStars with this issue or question, how would i need to be treated?"

Once you begin asking of yourself those questions, working out easy methods to provide good customer support becomes so much easier.

Obviously we're delighted that Etruvian ranked us highest some of the poker sites it benchmarked. However the fact is that we hold ourselves to a good higher standard than "Better than the sector;" our standard is sweet" enough for us and ok for our players." That standard, embodied by people comparable to Shahnaz, Ana, and Eva ensures that customer support is still a shining jewel within the PokerStars crown.

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Lee Jones have been enthusiastic about the pro poker world for greater than 25 years. You'll read his occasional Twitter-bites at @leehjones.

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