3 things successful, fast growing companies do differently
Part 3 of 3
Try this easier and more tangible way to prove your point and significantly improve customer service:
Customer complaints- A wonderful gift for you
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. As we have seen, he or she has incredibly low expectations for that, when they have a problem, it will work out well for them. That is an incredible gift for you and your company – a wonderful way to win business using customer service.
Some new interesting research[1] has shown that, surprisingly, the way a company handles its complaints can effectively create loyal customers.
At first this seems odd. Surely customers that have had a problem are unlikely to become loyal followers!
The thing is, especially in todays’ world where everything is getting faster, customers are looking for meaningful connection, a sense that they are valued. In most cases, as products/ services are delivered, there is minimal or no real connection. So, strange though it might seem, if you can encourage your customers to complain if they have a problem and then you demonstrate that you value them, they are more likely to stay with you, spend more, cost you less and recommend you to others than if they had no problem in the first place! A great development in customer service.
Do not take my word for it – read on. Research into 1015 customers across the UK and Europe[2] showed conclusively that, where customers have a problem and feel they are treated well only 10% defect, versus the 45% that defect from other companies
- where the effort the customer had to make to complain and resolve their problem was reduced they were 20% more likely to recommend the supplier and 20% less likely to complain again
- where customers have to chase up complaints they are far more likely to complain again
Three steps to using customer complaints to improve customer service
So now you have seen the logic, here are three steps to making it work for your company:
- Define very clearly what you want to achieve
- Find out the
- Current complaint levels (as a percentage of your customer base)
- Percentage of customers that recommend you (as far as you can tell)
- Customer defection rates
- Average customer spend
- Average cost to support each customer
- Then work out what you would love to achieve within 1 year
- Use customer complaints as a tangible way to demonstrate the power of improving the customer service and csutomer experience
- Work out how to make it easy for customers to complain whenever they are unhappy so that far more do and that they tell others
- Work with your team to ensure that they actually enjoy the customer service (remembering that they will initially be annoyed with you so you will have to show understanding and empathy and then build on that)
- Ensure your boss is aware of this experiment and agree with him what improved business results he needs to see to make the link directly to your department
- Track progress and impact on each of the measures listed above and for customer service ratings overall for at least one year. Hone your approach until the results are unequivocal.
Then, when the whole company sees how good your initiative has been on business, you will be able to undertake even more powerful improvements!