Let’s assume once and for all that customer service is key for the success of a campaign. And those necessary processes must be established and planned to create and sustain Customer Service, with capacity to adapt to their changes and at an optimum cost.
A lot of the things that are said about Customer Service focus on how the complaint is handled, when in reality it is a hyper complex process that has multiple corners and sometimes, streets with no way out.
• NTF – No TroubleFound– Trouble not found, unable to play.
• One Off, it has been a unique case and it is not explainable.
However, multiple studies try to shed some light on this hole in the income statements of a lot of many companies. This metrics can help to explain the importance of the Customer Service.
*Only 4% of the unsatisfied customers contact. In percentage and generally the companies don’t receive any information of the 96% of their unsatisfied customers. This number is crazy and it shows that there is much more to do in this field, and the hole that can cause on the income statement. There can be several reasons for that to happen/ the reasons can be diverse, between those/ but among others:
· Lack of communication channels
· Not having necessary resources to listen to them
· Not having the means to be able to attend them
· Simply due to the lack of interest from the company
In the days of correctional politics that we are living right now, companies reputation must remain untainted; However, the bad customer service is a reputational leak that can do a lot of damage to the company.
Every 6 complaints received; there are 24 customers with problems and another 6 with serious problems.
Here are three hidden ideas that are of great importance:
1. The number of complaints can lead us to deception and therefore to complacency: We may have much bigger problems than we think!
2. To have an order of magnitude, for each complaint received, the reality is that on average you will have four times more clients with problems, only they will never contact you and you will probably lose the recurrence in the sale.
3. For each complaint received, you will have another customer with similar problems, but perhaps not as serious, so they may not complain… but they will be an unsatisfied customer.
Following the Zero Flaws Policy, in this sense, is crucial to analyze the occurrences of failure modes in the customers and establish long-term action plans that kill the problems with emergency actions, containment actions and permanent actions.
A lot of customers don’t believe that is worth complaining
In this aspect, three types of profiles are usually found:
- Those who think that the complaint takes a lot of time and effort, so they just give up.
- Others are probably interested, but don’t know where to start.
- And a third group are the sceptics who doubt they will be treated effectively since they have had very negative past experiences.
And you, which group are you?
The problem of these clients with problems who nevertheless do not complain is that they will most likely not repeat purchases in our business, so the recurrence will fall. Rather we can say that they are much closer to not working with us again.
4. Customers who complain and have a satisfactory customer service experience have a high probability of continuing to do business with us.
Good customer service, which also adds value and does it instantly, not wasting the user’s time,
• Makes him feel important.
• Builds loyalty to the brand, since it reinforces the idea that the user has made a good purchase.
In contrast, customers who complain and have a negative customer service experience are twice as likely to report their negative experience as customers with a good experience to report theirs. And this is a double-edged sword.
5. Social networks have become speakers of unsatisfied customers.
We have already commented that the vast majority of customers do not complain, and yet they exist.
In the same way, if those who complain do not have an adequate customer service experience, they can resort to social networks to give voice and be a speaker of a situation that they consider unfair. It is in these moments when the clamour becomes exponential.
It is only necessary to take a short walk through social networks to realize that companies can become exposed to public ridicule without any shame in a matter of seconds and a click away. In addition, this battle is almost always won by the user.
6. Metrics you should be able to measure for your business.
Are you able to measure the following KPI’s?
– The % of clients that are lost per year due to poor service: as a reference, 10-15%: if you are higher, you should consider an immediate Action Plan. If you are below, also, because your goal must be zero.
– The % of customers that are lost throughout the entire sales process – the famous ChurnRate: this metric is not easy to calculate, but it is essential to know where your customers disappear throughout the purchase process
– % of cases in which the problems have their origin in misinterpretation, or simply not reading or not understanding the instructions for use: some companies have taken drastic solutions in this regard, and as a button, IKEA, which does not write its instructions: everything are scenes and symbols, which must have the ability to be equally interpreted regardless of culture or level of studies.
– % of cases that simply ask for more information: this feedback is really interesting because it allows us to understand the customer, collect information from him and bring together failure modes for future much more robust and powerful versions of our product.
Overall, it is all about establishing a strategy to:
- Do it perfectly to not bother the customer; that means that we will be doing it right. All that is not going into that direction will be a Poor Quality Cost. For example, a system that ensures that the customer has the information that needs is much better than another that provides this necessary information only when the customer complaints.
- If it has to complain, put out a red carpet: we are a Customer Centric company and we recognize how difficult it is to get a customer. In addition, we value the contributions you can make to improve our product.
Conclusions
Gaining the ability to quantify with numbers and truthfully what the client wants to say, what the symptom has been, differentiate the symptom from the problem and carry out an exhaustive analysis of it are not trivial activities and require a robust process and dedicated staff, dedicated and with problem solving skills.
It is essential to know where we are in terms of guarantees, the main contributors to them, and to understand the rationale of why they happen. If we are able to quantify them and this number is also truthful, we will be able to really gain traction and advance in our intention to be more competitive and gain market share.
Let’s never forget that it is much more difficult to get a customer than to keep one. And that in times of recession, good customer service can be a lifesaver against competitors who base their strategy basically on price.
There are long-term benefits too: in many industries, new product ideas are developed and refined by customers: this needs a very close relationship between both parties to reap benefits in both directions.