The winner - Linksys E3000 RoutherOne of my ‘holiday’ projects was setting up a new wireless internet router in my home office.  The project began with high hopes which gave way to immense frustration until I finally achieved success.  My technical adventure also illustrated the importance of considering all of the ways your product or service might ‘touch’ a customer when designing your marketing and service programs.

High Hopes
The first step was visiting my trusted resource for all things tech, PC Mag.  They had two recommendations that fit my needs.  The first was a router made by D-Link that was rated as a top performer.  The second was made by Linksys that was touted as being very easy to set-up.  I decided to purchase the D-Link router since I felt confident I could handle the tech stuff.  How wrong I was!!

Frustration
My experience with the D-Link router was a disaster.  The box contained a CD with step-by-step instructions, but these didn’t get me connected to the internet.  I tried searching for help on their website, but the product information they had posted online was outdated and didn’t match the instructions on my CD.  Finally, I called tech support, but their rep was unable to fix the problem.  She did offer to email me a software patch for the router, but I’m still waiting on that email to arrive.

The problem could have been resolved at any of these ‘touchpoints’.  Instead, I encountered conflicting information and no solutions.

Success!

I finally came to my senses and took the D-Link back to the store to exchange it for the Linksys router.  Just as advertised, it was up and running in a snap.  I had a few questions about its advanced features, but I easily found the answers on their website.  What a difference!