Startup Flourishes with Customer Service
At one time or another, we have all had a bad experience as a consumer. Poor service from a waiter, a repair job that comes in above the quoted price, a delivery that is days beyond the promised shipping date ... anger and frustration engulf us, and we can only vow to never patronize that business in the future.
On rare occasions, we take steps to voice our displeasure. A phone call to corporate headquarters, a well-worded letter, or sometimes we unleash an expletive-filled rant onto an unsuspecting customer service rep who just happened to be on the train tracks at an inopportune time. And that’s the end of it.
Unless you’re Lawrence Chou.
Lawrence Chou
About six years ago, the UCLA graduate and founder/CEO of San Diego-based MGX Copy needed to have something printed. It turned into a nightmare for Chou; the job was late, and he wasn’t apprised of the status. He showed up to pick up the order, twice, and it still wasn’t ready. There were hidden charges in the final bill. It was an utter nightmare.
“The whole experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth,” Chou recalls. “This is why a lot of customer service-oriented companies like Amazon and Zappos have flourished, with customer satisfaction guaranteed.
“I conferred with some bright people in my network and we discussed how printing is a huge, great industry, but perhaps it hadn’t changed as much as needed. I saw an opportunity for us to take more of a cloud-based approach to Web-to-print and a customer service-oriented approach to the printing industry.”
No Experience Required
Chou, who had zero experience in the graphic arts industry, ramped up from the comfort of his garage and quickly put together the roadmap that would lead to MGX Copy, an online printing business that now employs 50 and boasts an impressive array of digital printing gear. More importantly, it is a firm that carries an impeccable customer service record, with an average rating of five stars on Yelp, Google and the automated Feefo Reviews (98% all-time satisfaction rating). The company is highly visible on social media and online searches.
What’s amazing is that none of the initial 20 employees hired at MGX Copy had any printing industry experience. This enabled Chou and his management team to mold their enterprise to serve people who are neophytes when it comes to ordering print, but who can appreciate the value of quality customer service. The company has 15 dedicated CSRs answering phones and email. One of its programs, Rush Critical, promises to deliver printed jobs within 24 hours anywhere in the United States.
Chou used copiers when the company debuted, but has graduated to a fleet of six Ricoh Pro 9110 and Xerox iGen digital presses. The finishing department houses Standard Horizon perfect binders and saddle stitchers, and Polar cutters. The printer targets medium-sized customers (50 to 500 employees) with commercial products, namely business cards, brochures, booklets, postcards and posters.
Proprietary Web-to-Print
MGX Copy uses a proprietary Web-to-print (W2P) system from front to back. The desire for customization is what prompted Chou to forego an off-the-shelf W2P solution.
The system build out, from marketing to shipping, was put together with the customer in mind, which meant simplifying the experience. On average, MGX Copy clients can trigger an order entailing one-third as many clicks as some of the major national providers.
The company has a branded Web portal solution called MGX Cloud, which caters to high-traffic customers with multiple locations and frequent reordering needs. According to Chou, MGX Cloud represents a significant portion of the company’s revenues.
“We’ve seen an incredible amount of growth and demand,” he says. “A lot of our employees are millennials and they absolutely love to see and touch printed products. Print is as alive as it’s ever been. We said to ourselves, ‘If print is a commodity and it’s dying, what sets us apart?’ We came to the conclusion that our software and business approach to the customer experience is unique in the industry. We believe we have developed one of the best Web-to-print solutions out there.”
