SWITCHING ECONOMY
New research by Accenture highlights how poor service is causing consumers to switch providers on a huge scale, estimating “$5.9 trillion of revenues at play, with $1.4 trillion in North America alone”. The research shows:
- In all industry sectors, there is a decline in key customer experience metrics, including overall satisfaction, intent to purchase more services, feelings of loyalty, and willingness to recommend.
- 82% of consumers feel that their service provider could have done something differently to prevent them from switching due to poor service.
- 26% of those surveyed had used social media to post negative comments about a bad customer service or support experience.
- 91% of respondents are frustrated that they have to contact a company multiple times to get their issue addressed.
- Being put on hold for a long time is cited by 90% of respondents as a key frustration
- 89% of respondents dislike having to repeat their issue to several and different customer care operatives, while unfriendly or rude employees is also an issue
Accenture recommends that businesses should not take a defensive strategy, but instead to take “calculated risks in order to achieve greater rewards, be that competitive differentiation, greater customer retention, or higher customer revenues and value.”
One element of the customer-driven blueprint is to treat buyers as individuals, which “requires companies to redefine how they create trusting relationship with customers, not just online but offline as well”. This “warrants an investment in technology and capabilities that achieve intimacy while effectively addressing privacy and security concerns.”
THE ROLE OF TRANSPARENCY
The Accenture research serves to validate the ServeMeBest approach to using mobile technology to increase customer loyalty and the quality of customer service.
How? Through taking the path of enhanced transparency in the business-customer relationship.
In particular, ServeMeBest’s flagship product, Trust+, perfectly fits the Accenture blueprint for success. Trust+ enables businesses to offer their callers the option to have easy and secure access to call recordings.
Trust+ can certainly be seen as a “calculated risk to achieve greater award”, as today no organization offers this service. Trust+ is designed for those who seek an edge through innovation. In particular, it is for businesses that know they have the best quality customer care, and wish to use this to competitive advantage.
A strategy of transparency brings many benefits. Trust+ serves as:
- A marketing vehicle: A clear and powerful demonstration of corporate values, to attract and retain customers.
- A tangible demonstration of transparency: It shows trust and respect for the customer, bringing them onto an equal footing.
- A driver for quality and efficiency: Customer Care agents will make extra effort to give accurate information and solve problems quickly.>
- A means of increasing customer satisfaction: Implementation of call recording sharing acts as pressure to shorten hold times, reduce the need for repeat calls on the same issue, and stop customers being bounced from one agent to another.
WHAT DO CONSUMERS SAY?
Research by ServeMeBestconfirms that consumers see access to call recording as a positive innovation. A clear majority of respondents are in favor of access, and the table below shows how it will benefit the company.
| If you could have the ability to receive and save the recordings of your calls with customer care call centres,
what type of impact do you think it would have? US respondents who “definitely” or “quite likely” agree with the statement. |
|
| I would think that customer satisfaction is paramount to this company | 94% |
| I would recommend this company to friends and family | 90% |
| I would trust this company more | 90% |
| I would have a better opinion of the company I called | 87% |
| It would be an important and positive criteria in choosing a provider | 86% |
| It would force the company I called to offer a better service | 86% |
| It would prove to me that this company is transparent | 84% |
Clearly, consumers agree that call recording access is a positive step towards improving the trust relationship with service providers. Accenture notes that “51% of U.S. consumers switched service providers in the past year due to poor customer service experiences, up 5% from 2012.” For progressive organisations, Trust+ will play a key part in ensuring that they are not a victim of switching in the digital economy.