The Accenture CRM Team recently completed a global survey of consumers to ask about their views and opinions in the area of customer service.  In the Netherlands there were 1004 participants in the survey and the results were at times quite surprising!  To keep it simple I have selected five key findings that I wish to share with you;

1. Customer service expectations are rising!

Globally, 40% of consumers stated their customer service expectations had risen as compared to one year ago.  This figure dropped to 19% for the Dutch sub-set of consumers.  Why so much less in the Netherlands…?

2. Dutch consumers are the least satisfied with the most important service characteristics!

From eleven pre-specified service characteristics, Dutch consumers gave the following three (in order of priority) the highest score in importance: ‘having employees who are knowledgeable and informed’, ‘having customer service employees who know my history so I do not have to repeat myself’, and 3^rd place was ‘the amount of time I have to wait to be served’.  After scoring the characteristics to determine which were the most important consumers then were then asked to rate how satisfied they are with the current delivery of these characteristics from Dutch service providers.  On a scale of 1-5 (5 being highly satisfied) the scores are shockingly low;

• having employees who are knowledgeable and informed scored 2.74
• having customer service employees who know my history so I do not have to repeat myself scored 2.42
• the amount of time I have to wait to be served scored 2.44

So the service characteristics that are the most important to Dutch consumers are also those characteristics that consumers are least satisfied with.  Odd, don’t you think?  Are Dutch consumers not communicating to service providers what is important to them…? Or are service providers just not listening…?

3. The Dutch are not switching service providers, why not?

Considering the lack of satisfaction for the most important service characteristics you would think customers would be switching …or at least searching for another organization that does it better.  This was perhaps the most interesting aspects of the survey results.  Globally, 64% of consumers have switched service providers in the last year due to poor customer service.  Quite a clear message; however, only 13% of Dutch consumers switched in the last year.  Considering that it has been established that Dutch consumers are not satisfied with the level of service they are receiving; they are surprisingly not switching.  Why are they so loyal…?  We asked the question again, but then with the following nuance; ‘did you not switch as there was no better alternative available in the market’?  The results were still surprising low, a total of 10% of Dutch consumers considering switching in the last year but did not switch as there was no better alternative available in the marketplace.  So not only are Dutch consumers not switching; they are also not really even considering it!!

4. When not happy with the service agent Dutch consumers are the most likely to hang up and call back another time!

For anyone with a call center background your hair is likely standing up when you read this as the euro signs float by your eyes.  Yes, they hang up and call back again…that is as expensive as it sounds. Globally 22% of consumers are likely to hang up and call back again, among the Dutch consumers this rose to 26%.  Imagine a quarter of your contacts are repeat contacts…?  And that is not all they do, among Dutch consumers 14% will submit a formal complaint (globally 16%).  So, not only is it generating 26% repeat contacts but it is also generating 14% of the incoming complaints – yikes!

5. Usage of social media sites; the Dutch consumers are not that far behind!

In the past year I have heard many statements from Dutch organizations like ‘social media is just a trend’…’we will never use it like the Americans do’….’no one does anything with social media in Holland’.  Well, it is simply not true, and now I have some facts to backup my opinion.  Here are the highlights;

• 85% of Dutch consumers use the Internet to search for information on a company’s product and services several times a month or more frequent (71% globally)
• 34% of Dutch consumers use social media platforms to search for information on a company’s product and services several times a month or more frequent (43% globally)
• 22% of Dutch consumers interact directly with company’s via social media platforms several times a month or more frequently (27% globally)
• 18% of Dutch consumers write about a company’s product and services on social media platforms several times a month or more frequent (24% globally)

What does this slew of facts tell us?  Well firstly, it confirms that the Netherlands consumer base has a high penetration of internet users.  When compared to the global results the Dutch are connected and internet savvy. Next to that, the numbers show that the Dutch consumers are not that far behind the global results in the adaption to using social media platforms.  34% are reading social media platforms, 22% are interacting with web-care teams and 18% are writing about and sharing their experiences for organizations products and services.  This is definitely not nothing, and seeing that Dutch consumers are leading in the results when it comes to using the internet it is only a matter of time before we see a shift from the internet (ie: likely via a traditional PC) towards social media channels via the every growing popularity of smart-phones.

I have provided some interesting facts and raised a lot of new questions – I look forward to reading your comments!  If you are interested in receiving more details about the 2010 Global Consumer survey do not hesitate to contact me at angela.gordon@accenture.com.