I often feel as though I’m typing into a black hole which swallows up details when I fill out online forms, as on numerous occasions I have never actually received a response to my enquiry. As a result the recent blog post by Robbin Steif, really hit home.
 
"Soon after writing about great thank you pages, I had a chance to look at one. We signed another new customer and I started poking around their site to learn more. I filled out a "contact us" form and was awed at the incredible reply. "Thank you for your request for information," it read. "Your form is being routed to the person who can help you, which will be Jane Smith. She will get back to you in about 24 hours, but if you want to call her yourself, she is at 800-123-4567." Then they included an opportunity to opt into their email newsletter (so that I would have a second chance to convert that day.) And finally, Jane Smith got back to me by email within an hour or so.

So they gave me a name, a timeline, a phone number and a chance to convert again, all in a sentence or two. And they lived up to their promise."

Robbin Steif
LunaMetrics
 
My most memorable experience when it comes to black holes that eat online forms was with CarphoneWarehouse who provided an online form allowing you to write an email to Charles Dunstone the CEO, guaranteeing a response in 24 hours. I had been having a lot of issues with the company, so wrote a letter through the form, politely outlining the issues, and offering some suggestions on how they might be able to improve the customer experience, as well as praising the opportunity to voice my views to the CEO (I was aware that in all probability it would not be read by Dunstone himself, but one of his underlings). I made the mail as constructive as possible as I wanted a resolution to my issues not an opportunity to vent.  

I waited eagerly for a response which did not come, until eventually 2 weeks later I got a voice mail acknowledging my letter, and the suggestion that I call the customer support line with my issues. I now have very little to say about CarphoneWarehouse that is good. Please tell me it's not only me who is falling prey to this black hole of non-responsiveness...

My point is that while I agree that the approach outlined in Robbin's blog is fantastic and would create a very positive customer experience, if you are going to take this kind of approach you’d better do what you say you will do. If you don’t the negative impact will be worse than had you not made any commitment in the first place.