On Unhappy Customers with Big Mouths
posted by: Nick Roman on 3/16/2010
Apparently “80% of British consumers tell their family, friends, and colleagues about their good and bad customer experiences, with three times as many passing on news of bad experiences.” It’s not a newsflash that people talk about their lousy experiences more than their positive ones. Frankly, they make better stories, and really, that’s what we’re after when we’re telling people about things that have happened to us. Still, few of us actively seek out bad service, just to have something to tell our mothers about. Except stand up comedians; but that’s allowed.
One of the things that the survey fails to find, is a clear answer to the question “what makes good customer service?”, because no single channel works for every company or every customer and because good service is simply too subjective to be quantified. What is clear, though (in this survey at least), is the potential effect of the service you offer, with some pretty compelling numbers attached to that section. Combining these potential churn/loyalty statistics with the word-of-mouth numbers makes it clear why so many experts claim that service is the new customer battleground. It’s not just your existing customers you’re affecting, it’s future ones too.
Understanding the customer experience you offer is difficult. Most businesses now provide a range of channels through which customers can contact them, and the experience may differ widely from one to another. Your Website might suck, but your contact center agents might be the most engaged, charming, and efficient group of people on the planet. And word of mouth makes it more complex, because a customer might recommend you based on your lovely contact center service, leading to their friend using your rubbish Website.
Trying to get a sense of the big picture requires looking at each of these channels and focusing on the unique experiences you offer through each one. To do that, you need to take the opportunity to ask people about their experiences, not only at the right time, but also through the right channel. If they prefer online customer service, they might not appreciate an IVR survey. And if they called your contact center, might they not prefer a survey on the phone too?
It’s certainly worth getting customer service right, wherever possible. And it’s a good thing that doing so will help to retain customers, because it looks like only a third as many people will be talking about you if you succeed!