As customer service professionals this is an important question to know the answer to to ensure the ongoing support from senior Board level executives for the work being carried out at the front line in the contact centre.
So here’s the answer…….
Across a number of studies conducted by Fifth Quadrant we have found that customer service experience is consistently identified as either the most important or the second most important driver of customer commitment.
This has been validated through using both direct questions as well as more sophisticated regression modelling techniques.
In a recent global study we asked, "Please indicate the top three reasons that would cause you to move your business away from one company to another company." At a global level, 37% of respondents indicated that the attribute, 'the company no longer offering good value for their products and services' was the main reason why they would move their business. This was followed by 21% of consumers who indicated that ‘poor customer service experience’ was the main reason.
In many other studies we often use driver analysis (Multiple Regression) to understand the strength of relationship between a range of business based attributes with brand commitment or advocacy (NPS). These attributes have often included statements such as; ‘Having a range of products that cater to all my needs’, ‘Offering the best deals’, ‘Having great quality customer service’, ‘Being flexible in meeting my needs’, ‘Being easy to do business with’ and ‘Being familiar and well-known’. Across these studies we have repeatedly found that it is the customer service attributes that have the strongest relationship with brand advocacy measures. In one particular analysis we quantified that customer service performance was responsible for driving over 45% of the Recommendation (NPS) performance. This was followed by ‘Product’ related attributes at just over 40%.
A study conducted by Intelligent Dialogue found that amongst consumers that had stopped dealing with an organisation, 54% had done so because they had a problem that wasn’t dealt with satisfactorily. Similarly, a blog posed by Forrester’s Kerry Bodine, highlights the same relationship, that a positive customer service experience in a contact centre is strongly correlated to stronger levels of brand consideration and advocacy (NPS).
Whilst the focus of this blog is customer retention and commitment, we have also found that, for some customers, a good customer service experience can be a significant acquisition driver too.
So what does the mean from a customer experience measurement perspective? Most organisations are happy to monitor and track customer satisfaction or NPS, often collected thorough short automated online or IVR based surveys. But this basic data has significant limitations with respect to understanding and quantifying the link between good customer service experience and business performance measures. For customer service to be taken seriously by the Board, demonstrating this relationship empirically is key.
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