Today’s Competitive Battlefield is Service

The customer service landscape today has become a battleground, with customer experience being the key differentiator for brands fighting for market share. Companies that master the customer service arena are leading the charge in building long-term advocacy and ultimately profitable businesses, whereas those who are losing this battle are experiencing a direct impact on business growth, affecting both revenue and profit – the true cost of customer dissatisfaction!

1Let’s look at the evidence:

83% of UK business leaders feel that customers are the biggest driver of change and are the biggest pressure point for businesses today.

53% of UK businesses believe that customer service has become more important over the past 12 months.

66% of UK consumers believe customer service has either stayed the same or deteriorated over the past three years. Only 3% believe it has improved a lot and 22% a little.

81% of customers would be willing to pay more in order to receive superior customer service

Only 29% of the UK’s small businesses believe that customer service is a key differentiator in today’s competitive marketplaces. This compares to 88% of Spanish businesses and 77% of Italian businesses who see customer service as being the differentiator that helps them stand out.

90% of UK shoppers walk away without buying something if they get bad customer service! 41% of shoppers said the biggest frustration is lack of interest in their needs.

59% of UK shoppers want more staff to recommend products, as it makes the experience more personal and 80% of shoppers want to be taken to a product when asking its whereabouts.

When asked what were the key drivers for a customer to spend more with a company 40% said improvement in the overall customer experience and 35% said provide quick access to information and make it easier for customers to answer questions.

74% of customers leave if a website doesn’t load on their smartphone in 5 seconds. In fact a one-second delay in load time would cost Amazon an estimated $1.6 billion a year!

Rude staff are the most common reason for poor customer service by over 50% of UK customers, followed by timeliness (19%) and the inability to fix a customer’s reported problems (19%).

2The top 5 reasons that create a decrease in customer loyalty are:

– Being transferred between staff

– No response to an email

– Length of time on hold

– Being unable to reach a human

– Unknowledgeable staff

71% of customers go online first whenever they have a problem with a product.

49% of customers wanting help from a company’s customer service team contact them by email and 43% pick up the phone!

51% of people who make a complaint on line expect a response, but 85% of those questioned have never received one!

85% of customers said they were delighted (27%) or very/somewhat happy (58%) on receiving a public response to their comments on social media from a brand.

46% of customers aged 24 and below use social media to air their grievances. 33% of them say that responses are too slow.

91% of customers don’t always complain when they receive poor customer service with over 40% of them thinking it is not worth complaining as companies simply don’t care!

Only 27% of customers said they either always or often feedback when they’ve had great customer service!

81% of customers would be more likely to give feedback if they knew there would be an instant response!

When asked what is most likely to keep them loyal, UK customers responded:

– Improved trust in the business 3%

– Outstanding reputation of the business 5%

– Good loyalty rewards 17%

– Cost 17%

– Excellent customer service 28%

– Quality of product or service 30%

86% of customers are more likely to purchase something following a good customer experience and 64% are unlikely to repurchase something if they are very dissatisfied with the customer service interaction.

48% of Internet users told other people “all the time” about a good customer service experience with a company.

78% of online customers recommend a brand to friends and other contacts after a great customer experience and 68% reported that they spend more money on the company’s items.

So, faced with this overwhelming evidence – do you want to turn your company into a true ‘customer company’ and steal a march on your competitors – if not, why not?

Find out more about makepositive at makepositive.com.

1 Sources: Fit To Change Report, Sage UK Research, Cognito, Oracle Report: Why Satisfaction is No Longer Good Enough, Epson Business Council Report, Market Force Research, Fast Company

2 Sources: Sword Ciboodle and thinkjar Report, Rakuten’s Play.com Report, Maritz Research, Rapide,  Portal, Temkin Group, American Express Study, ClickFox

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net