To My Readers

Hi

I don't know whether I have any readers but in case I do, I just wanted to let you know I will be travelling in the USA until May 8 and so I may not get a chance to blog every day.

Cheers

Ian

What Business Are You Really In?

If someone asked you what business you are in, what would you answer? I'd suggest you think of yourself as being in the customer business. Not the customer service business, the customer business. After all, the only way you will succeed in business is to attract, sell to and retain customers. There is no other way. Perhaps you are thinking that anyone who is in business could say that. Well, you'd be right! They could and they should because like you, the only way to succeed is to get customers, make money from them and keep them coming back for more.

If that all sounds a bit crazy, answer this question: What percentage of your profits come from your customers? Or this one: If you are not losing money or borrowing money to expand, what percentage of your total revenue comes from you customers? If you are an employee or team member, ask yourself these three questions: Who pays your wages? Who do you work for? Who's the boss?

Once you've answered those questions, you'll understand why you are in the customer business!

Around the World Customers Expect More But Think They Are Getting Less

A US study done this year found consumers expect more from customer service and their satisfaction with customer service continues to decrease. Says the author of this study: “Generally, customer expectations are rising faster than companies have been able to respond.” Nearly a third of consumers (31 percent) have higher customer service expectations than they did just a year ago and 44 percent) have higher customer service expectations than they did five years ago.

An Australian study dome by AussieHost in 2010 found that just over half of respondents said they were dissatisfied with customer service in Australia, and an even more disturbing trend is that well over half the people surveyed believe it’s getting worse.  Accounting and legal services were rated the best for customer service while insurance companies were given the thumbs down, scoring lower than all other sectors.

A New Zealand survey by Colmar Brunton found personal customer experience in New Zealand has improved in the past five years, mainly because of a significant reduction in negative customer experiences to 59 percent this year from 72 percent in 2006 when the survey was last conducted. On the other hand, A KiwiHost study done in New Zealand found most New Zealanders (58.7%) were either neutral, dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the levels of service and 75% said they would give a company only one or two chances before taking their business elsewhere.

Marketers Don't Understand Women

 Women are not happy with the vast majority of marketing and advertising aimed at them,” says Holly Buchanan, coauthor of The Soccer Mom Myth – Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. According to She-conomy.com, 59 percent of women feel misunderstood by food marketers; 66 percent feel misunderstood by health care marketers; 74 percent feel misunderstood by automotive marketers; and 84 percent feel misunderstood by investment marketers. In a separate survey, also by She-conomy.com, 91 percent of women said that they don’t think advertisers understand them. What’s causing this disconnect between marketers and female consumers? According to experts, it’s not because of a lack of technological capabilities; the problem stems from a limited understanding of this powerful and influential cohort.

The biggest mistake companies make is to say all women think alike or want the same thing and therefore will respond to the same message. Inevitably when companies think ‘woman,’ they think ‘mom says one industry expert. When appealing to women shoppers, as opposed to their male counterparts, particular common notions do prove to be true, but not without a caveat. The assumption that women care more about aesthetics and the design of a product is absolutely true; a study by BlogHer and Create with Context, titled “Women, the Web, and Their Wallets,” found that 93 percent of participants wanted technology products to be beautiful. However, 63 percent of those women said that the beauty of a product did not override the product benefits, debunking the idea that if a remote control is dipped in pink, a woman won’t bother to compare the features to those of another device.

Word of Mouth Is The Strongest Influence On Where Customers Shop

A recent global study found word of mouth is the source of information people use the most (76 percent) and consider most important (56 percent) when deciding whether to do business with a service provider. A US study done this year found word of mouth remained the source of information respondents use most (76 percent) and also consider the most important (56 percent) when deciding whether to do business with a service provider. Social media has “accelerated” the importance of word of mouth.

A 2010 US study reported in the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer study found that over 90% of Australians surveyed in the recent

say they will tell more than three people about a bad customer service experience. Almost 40% of respondents said they would tell more than ten people about a bad experience, and the frightening reality is that a customer’s perception of good service does not match mainstream business thinking.

US research by the Corporate Executive Board in 2010 found 65% of people said they tell others when they have a bad experience and 48% said they tell 10 or more. On the other hand, only 25% said they told others when they have a good experience and 23% told 10 or more.

Another US study mentioned above found that after having a bad customer service experience in the past year, four out of five (80 percent) U.S. consumers told the people around them, while 17 percent shared their bad experiences via social media. Furthermore, 24 percent of consumers consider negative comments posted on social media sites a strong influence on purchasing decisions.

A 2010 US study reported in the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer found 75% of customers will tell others about a good experience and 59% will talk about a bad experience. Stories about good service carry more weight when considering which company to deal with. Eighty-one percent say they are more likely to stay loyal if they have a good experience and 52% say they defect after a bad experience.

Customer Service More Important Today But Not Getting Better Say Customers

A 2010 Global study reported in the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer found customers in 10 countries say quality customer service is even more important to them in today’s economic environment. Unfortunately, 63% of Americans 71% of Australians, 66% of Germans, 65% of Canadians and 65% of Italians say companies are not getting better or are getting worse.

Make It Easy For Your Customers to Talk To You

Listening to the voice of your customers is far more effective than customer surveys. Research shows that you get better quality and more useful feedback if you let your customers use their own words to tell you what they want to tell you, when they want to tell it.

If you want to make it easy for your customers to talk to you when and how they want to, tell them to Tell Simon. 

If your customers have a compliment. complaint, suggestion or question they want to pass on to you, they can go to Tell Simon (www.tellsimon.co.nz, www.tellsimon.com.au or www.tellsimon.com.) and he will try pass their feedback on to you. 

The more you promote Tell Simon to your customers, the more feedback you will get.

Why make it easy for your customers to talk to you? Because they will tell you everything you need to know to succeed.

The Tell Simon feedback channel is a free service to consumers and businesses alike. See www.tellsimon.biz for more information.

Many Loyalty Programmes Are Ineffective

A recent study of U.S. consumers that shows many retail loyalty programs leave consumers feeling under-appreciated, and many consumers are enrolled in programs they don’t completely understand.

Three out of four Americans are members of at least one retail loyalty program but 85 percent of members report that they haven’t heard a sing...le word from a loyalty program since the day they signed up.

How to Turn a Good Customer Experience into a Great One

How can you turn a good customer experience into a great one? 

 Have a look at my column in New Zealand Business. You can download it here: www.ianbrooks.com/useful-ideas/nzbusiness/201104.pdf