Surface Ripples

Hard Customer Service Facts?

I spotted an infographic developed by Rapid Answers that listed five key points that we need to think about during our interactions with our customers.

Fact number one: more than 60% of consumers are influenced by other consumers’ comments. How often have I looked up reviews on Amazon or other sites before making a purchase?  How often have you?  The 60% figure also looks very precise and nicely rounded – wonder how they got that. 

Fact number two: repeat customers spend 67% more and are more profitable.  I can’t comment on the 67% figure (again, it seems very precise) but it is fair to say that repeat customers generally will spend more than those who come only once.  It’s logical.

Fact 3: 40% of organisations cite “complexity” as the greatest barrier to improving “multi-channel customer experience” - whatever that is.  Again, without knowing on which survey the 40% figure is based I can’t comment on its accuracy.  There’s no denying, however, that we live in an increasingly complex world and consumers don’t like complexity when accessing services (I’m one of them!).

Fact 4: 78% of consumers have bailed on (abandoned) a transaction because of a poor service experience.  Again, can’t comment on the 78% figure but personal experience tells me that bailing on a transaction because of poor service happens.  I’ve done it myself.  Not only will people abandon the transaction, but they’re also likely to go online and tell millions about it. 

Finally, it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience.  Another way of putting this is that it takes a long time to build trust but very little time to lose it.  I have no hard data on how many positive experiences it takes to make up for a bad one, but I can say that one has to work a lot harder to build and then maintain that bond of trust.  If, though, one does make a mistake after building up a substantial or sufficient “emotional credit balance”, customers can be a lot more forgiving than if we constantly provide poor experiences.

The long and short of this seems to be that organisations that genuinely focus on great customer experience will be the ones who succeeded where their competitors don’t.  Their prices may be higher, their product range may be more limited, but they will still get the business because of their "service experience".  In short, we need to focus on:

• Attitude and service to generate positive comments on our services/products.
• “Bringing them back for more”. 
• How easily we can deliver our product/service and how easy is it for customers to obtain it.

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Selling, Strategy

posted by William Martin @ 07:49