Catering Scotland

Daniela Grendene

It’s no secret that customer service is a key skill that every business needs to master. After all, as Microsoft reported in 2017, 96% of consumers say that customer service is an important factor in their decision to buy and stay loyal to a given brand. But as the digital age expands, customer service is no longer only about face-to-face conversations in retail stores. Phone and chat conversations now make up a significant portion of the customer service experience, which means businesses need to manage their customer experience across all communication mediums.

Daniela Grendene outlines the changing emphasis on the all-important customer service experience…

To better help their clients understand how customer service is evolving across mediums, AI customer service platform Netomi asked more than 700 US consumers for their opinions on its impact on loyalty and buying decisions. The results of the survey demonstrate that consumer priorities are shifting from personalised service to speed and efficiency. Findings included:

Customer Service is Fundamental for Sales

Across the board, over 80% of responses to the Netomi survey said that customer service was either ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important. Furthermore, 78% of respondents claimed that customer service was essential to winning their loyalty to a brand, while only 1% admitted that customer service wasn’t important.

When it comes to sales decisions, 71% of consumers reported that they stopped buying from at least one company in the past year due to poor customer service. Research undertaken by Kolsky suggests the cost of attracting a new customer is 6-7 times higher than the cost of retention, which can in turn compound the expense of these losses. Not only does excellence in customer service result in higher immediate sales, it can also have a significant impact on customer lifetime values and marketing spend required to meet revenue goals.

A smile goes a long way to satisfaction

Speed Outweighs Personalised Service

There is a well known statistic that, nowadays, the human attention span is lower than ever, caused in part by over-exposure to the internet, social media and other distractions. While people continue to contend whether we really can pay attention anymore, one thing is for sure: speed matters when it comes to customer service.

In the past, waiting ‘on hold’ for hours was simply accepted but there’s no such patience for lengthy queues these days. Netomi’s research confirmed the popular belief that patience is waning among consumers and they now want everything immediately. Indeed, 61% of respondents reported that a quick resolution was a key factor in first class customer service.

In fact, speed is so important that it now outstrips the value of personalisation in the customer experience. Netomi reports that 47% of consumers expect fast and convenient support, while under a quarter find it more important to received personalised service.

From these initial findings it’s clear that there has been a step change regarding the value that consumers place on customer service these days. In the next article, we’ll lift the lid on why many businesses are failing to adopt a proactive approach and what they can do to improve their processes and retain more clients rather than having to recruit them all over again.

Look out for the second part of this article on CateringScotland.com next week.

Daniela Grendene is an executive coach with 25 years’ experience who teaches directors about business results and making money. For more information on how they can help you and your organisation to reach the next level, visit www.actioncoach.co.uk.