The High Cost of Bad Customer Service
The Bad News
According to a recent study by the Wharton School of Business and the Verde Group, bad customer service can really really hurt:
Here are the key findings from their study of 1,000 American consumers:
One in three dissatisfied customers will share their experience with friends, family and coworkers.Unhappy customers will tell four people on average.
Fifty percent of those who hear about such negative experiences won’t shop at that establishment in the future.
When all else is equal, if you have two stores selling the same thing, the one with better customer service will have 30-40 percent more sales.
Worse still, unhappy customers will embellish their stories. “In the retelling of the story we become more animated and we color the story a bit more,” Paula Courtney, head of the Verde Group, told NPR recently. “What starts off as you had a rude person at a store could, by the time you tell the story for the fifth time, become ‘the employee was abusive.’ That’s why negative word of mouth is so powerful.”
Sales associates fail to do one important thing, the study notes. They don’t engage the customer. (An engager, the study says, is “available, friendly, and willing to help.”) Customers said that ineffective engagement was the single biggest reason for the loss of their business.
The Good News
There is good news implicit in this story of bad customer service. Consumers aren’t looking for a salesperson who can juggle atop a unicycle—they just want someone who will engage them!
In other words, the bar is low! Since most consumers have gotten used to poor treatment, it’s easy to distinguish yourself and your agency with good customer service.
Put on a friendly smile and offer to help, and you’re on your way to developing a loyal customer—one who will tell positive stories (perhaps with embellishments) about your company.
