Many of the most successful leaders I’ve worked with are uneasy depending on surveys and rolled-up data alone to tell them what’s really happening. They want to put themselves in their customers’ shoes. They want to see the organization, products, employees and competitors as their customers do. The video below, from my LinkedIn Learning course “Customer Service Leadership,” shares some …
An important aspect of building customer relationships is managing customer feedback. This includes both short- and long-term objectives: it involves responding to feedback as it happens and collecting and analyzing feedback from many customers to look for recurring problems and opportunities. In a past issue of The Edge of Service® Newsletter, I look at what it takes to manage customer …
Many successful leaders establish an overall measure of customer satisfaction to gauge progress. I concur that’s a wise move, but it’s important to do so with some cautions in mind. A recent Lynda.com course that I recorded addresses this topic and others associated with Customer Service Leadership. You might enjoy learning more about the best measure of overall customer satisfaction …
Customer comments matter. Positive or negative, they definitely have an impact. A past Edge of Service Newsletter includes the following numbers to ponder: 1% to 5%. Typical percent of customers who complain to companies when there are problems—for every 10 complaints, there are anywhere from 200 to 1,000 customers you don’t hear from. (John Goodman, Customer Experience 3.0) Word of mouth …
When customers go through what they consider to be major customer service failures, the company providing the poor experience pays a heavy price. According to a recent study by SDL: 64% of customers stop recommending the company, start looking for alternative brands, or actively disparage the company via word of mouth, social or other means. Only 10% spend more with …
Proactively engaging your customers yields many benefits. For example, research conducted by CFI Group finds that customers who post their contact center experiences on social media sites and then receive follow up from the company rate their overall customer satisfaction almost 20% higher and are 15% more likely to recommend the company compared to those who receive no follow-up. Many …
It is axiomatic that in order to best serve your customers, you have to “know” them. In other words, you need to understand your customers’ expectations and needs as comprehensively as possible in order to give them the products and services that they want. But how comfortable are your customers with sharing their information? According to an eConsultancy/IBM study of …
According to Forrester’s Customer Experience Index, in 2014, 11% of brands were rated at “excellent” compared to 0% in 2007. Conversely, the number of brands rated at “poor” or “very poor” dropped from 35% in 2007 to 11% in 2014. Clearly, there’s been a shift in how we interact with our customers. Here’s a toast to doing a better job …
Clearly, there’s still work to be done in how organizations assess their ability to meet customer expectations. Consumer Perception (2014 Consumer): Do you feel that the customer service departments of today’s companies generally meet your needs and expectations? Yes: 22% No: 78% Corporate Perception (2014 Corporate): Do you feel that your customer care organization generally meets the needs and expectations …
