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 3rd 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…? Read more…
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Digital is driving fundamental shifts in how businesses operate. Instead of a handful of online and offline touch points, companies have the opportunity to meet customers anywhere and everywhere: in social media sites, inside their smart phones and on their favorite blogs. Since marketers are intruding in domains that are much more reflective of the personal interests of their targets, earning and maintaining the right to visibility on these channels requires a new and extraordinary level of content that reflects the wants and needs of the consumer. In other words: Messages need to be relevant. That requires eschewing traditional “push marketing” and instead offering information that is engaging and timely to individual consumers based on their specific interests.
