Last week I reached out to two different digital companies for technical support via email.

The first company promised to respond within 24 hours. Their eventual reply was a copied and pasted generic email, that likely went out to every person with a similar issue. It was obvious the busy person dealing with my support ticket hadn’t read my original email in full.

The second company got back to me within an hour. Amy at Mailchimp not only replied to my email, but responded to me with empathy and rectified the problem. In a single email, Amy introduced herself and said she would be happy to help. She’d already investigated the issue and fixed the problem. She walked me through this step-by-step in her email response. Then she signed off by saying if I continued to have problems I could reach out again, then wished me well for the weekend. In the reactive world we live in, this kind of thoughtful response feels rare.
It is. It shouldn’t be.

The reason a company exists is to help. If our systems and processes, our products and services or our work and ideas are not helping, then why are they necessary? Necessary work is not only good for customers and businesses—it’s essential for our individual and collective wellbeing. We are hardwired to help. We can’t thrive when we are limited to doing unnecessary work.

If this email landed in your inbox today, it’s because Amy cared to make it happen. Amy is empowered and equipped to do necessary work because the leaders at Mailchimp built their company with this intention. Every one of us has a similar choice to make.

Image by Marc Thiele