Tuesday, August 9
Customer Service Still Stinks
From a recent Sales & Marketing Management newsletter:
Customer Service Still Stinks
It's the top reason customers defect.
Forget product, price, and even prestige. The main reason customers leave their service providers is poor customer service. A new study by Accenture finds that despite adding elements such a live chat and automated phone systems, customers still think service stinks.
'These findings are troubling for any industry with heavy customer interaction, given that poor service was the predominant reason that nearly half the respondents gave for changing service providers in one industry or another last year,' says John Freeland, global managing partner of Accenture's Customer Relationship Management practice. 'Winning companies strike the right balance between using technology to help reduce costs and streamlining the customer experience with well-considered processes that contribute to more personalized service.'
The state of service:
* 49 percent said poor service had caused them to change providers.
* 34 percent said the key to good service is being able to get assistance without being forwarded to multiple representatives.
* More than half likened the current state of customer service to being stuck in slow moving traffic.
* Most irritating elements of customer service? Being left on hold, needing to repeat information to multiple service reps, having to speak to more than one person to get assistance."
Customer Service Still Stinks
It's the top reason customers defect.
Forget product, price, and even prestige. The main reason customers leave their service providers is poor customer service. A new study by Accenture finds that despite adding elements such a live chat and automated phone systems, customers still think service stinks.
'These findings are troubling for any industry with heavy customer interaction, given that poor service was the predominant reason that nearly half the respondents gave for changing service providers in one industry or another last year,' says John Freeland, global managing partner of Accenture's Customer Relationship Management practice. 'Winning companies strike the right balance between using technology to help reduce costs and streamlining the customer experience with well-considered processes that contribute to more personalized service.'
The state of service:
* 49 percent said poor service had caused them to change providers.
* 34 percent said the key to good service is being able to get assistance without being forwarded to multiple representatives.
* More than half likened the current state of customer service to being stuck in slow moving traffic.
* Most irritating elements of customer service? Being left on hold, needing to repeat information to multiple service reps, having to speak to more than one person to get assistance."
