Two Strikes and You’re Out…for Poor Customer Service

The national survey, which queried 1000 consumers about recent experiences in the banking, cable, retail, and telecommunications industries, shows that consumers hold companies accountable for poor customer service. Consumers are telling service providers that they will not take it anymore and will change providers if treated with anything but superior service. Additional key findings include: - More than 75 percent of consumers would hang up on a call placed to customer service after waiting on hold for longer than five minutes. - More than 80 percent of consumers polled would rather visit the dentist, pay their taxes, or sit in a traffic jam than deal with an unhelpful representative. - 75 percent said that they will tell friends and family about negative experiences. - 85 percent of consumers reported that having negative customer service experiences will drive them to switch providers. - Consumers believe that the loss of business is the biggest motivator for companies to improve their customer service. Based on these survey results, it is imperative that service providers recognize the importance of providing high quality customer service. With a wide range of choices available and intense competition for consumers’ business, a service providers profitability hinges on its ability to know everything about its customers in order to build valuable relationships, leverage that value for profit, anticipate customers’ needs, and take appropriate action based on that information. In todays customer-driven marketplace, it is essential for service providers to have a clear, 360-degree view of their customers during each interaction. In order to build loyalty and retain high value customers, service providers must adopt an integrated customer management approach - by viewing key business functions and IT systems as more than disparate billing and CRM solutions, but as components that enable all of the interrelated business processes to operate seamlessly, with the customer at the center. From the monthly bill to the customer service agent, service providers can no longer organize themselves around products; instead, they must provide customer care on a single, unified platform. This approach offers service providers the flexibility to rapidly introduce new services to the market, create packages that are appealing to consumers, and share information across the organization to give a better overall customer experience.