RBS 'Must put up posters revealing it ranks worst for customer service'

This from today's Times...

...or, to use the modern version of a consumer survey...

...Google reviews.

We are only mildly surprised that the CMA chose to commission a survey, when there's one already out there, available to all: Google reviews. How about a survey based on them?

Here's First Direct (the 'winner' in the CMA survey)...

...not perfect, but what bank is? 

Of course, the results would be far more accurate - and valuable for consumers - if these banks proactively invited their customers to post reviews to Google.


The full list...

...and the results published on RBS's own website...

...and here's the poster (actually two posters, one for personal accounts, one for business accounts), right in your eye-line in branch...

And the lesson for every business to take away from this? Customers are seeing the very same thing - albeit without the CMA rider - every time they do a search on Google...

Angel Plumbing would appear to be the RBS of plumbers in Islington. What impression is this creating amongst their potential customers? How about 'Just as bad as if they put their Google score on the side of their van'?

Horror Stories - 'Falling Down'

Michael Douglas in 1993 - one of the HelpHound team twenty years on; has customer service improved?

11.35 am in Greggs Earl's Court: "May I have a bacon and cheese turnover please" - answer "No, we stop serving breakfast at 11."

Now - this is fine as far as it goes, but the stumbling block was when the Greggs staff were asked "Why?" (Earl's Court is full of shiftworkers - hotels, London Transport etc. Some are even Greggs' staff!) and they were only able to answer: "Company policy"

The staff in Greggs were great - and our colleague left with two turnovers for the price of one. But why, oh why, don't managers brief their staff on the reasons behind 'company policy'?

BTW - if you are in customer service (and who isn't?) and you haven't seen 'Falling Down' it's a 'must watch'!

Horror Stories 2 - United Breaks Guitars

Just how bad can a single customer service mistake be? An airline breaks a passenger's guitar - so far so (relatively - unless you like Taylor guitars) mundane. It's what the airline did (or didn't) do next that saw one video get over 12 million views on YouTube, spawn 2 sequels, numerous spoofs and spin-offs and, most important of all for United Airlines, causeduntold long-term damage to their reputation (and prompted a 17% fall in its share price):

If only United Airlines was a HelpHound client:

• Dave Maxwell would have received an 'invitation to review' email 
• He would have submitted his complaint - in private
• Miss Irhlweg would have responded - through HelpHound
• If her response had been inadequate - one of our moderators would have contacted United and made sure it was corrected
• Mr Maxwell would have got his guitar fixed/replaced
• No-one but United, HelpHound and Mr Maxwell would have been any the wiser (unless Mr M went on to post a review, which in all likelihood would have been what we call a 'positive negative': 'They broke my guitar but they replaced it - thanks United.')
• United's share price would have been 17% higher!!

The Customer is King...

.....  and Customer Experience is the way to his heart.  The latest Customer Experience Report North America sponsored by RightNow has some great stats that should be taken on board by all businesses, large and small.   Topline summary:

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.   It's Make or Break
•    82% of consumers have stopped doing business with  a company as a result of a negative experience.
•    55% became a customer of a company because of their reputation for great customer service
•    40% began purchasing from a competitive brand simply because of their reputation for great customer service
•    85% of consumers said they would be willing to pay more over the standard price in order to ensure a superior customer experience.

Of those who decided to stop doing business with an organization,
•    73% was a reaction to rude staff
•    51% reacted to unknowledgeable staff
•    55% were because of issues that weren’t resolved in a timely manner

BEWARE THE POWER OF WORD OF MOUTH
•    79% of consumers that had a negative experience with a company told others about it.   Because….
  o    85% wanted to warn others about the pitfalls of doing business with that company
  o    66% wanted to discourage others from buying from that company
  o    55% wanted to vent anger or disappointment
  o    24% wanted to see if the company would take action to resolve their issue

•    76% of consumers said word of mouth most influenced their purchasing decisions, followed by
  o    customer reviews and online feedback at 49%,
  o    product review web sites at 41%,
  o    magazine articles at 23%
  o    reputation on social networking sites 7%.

YOU CAN TURN THE TABLES
All is not lost if a company trips up.  In today’s transparent environment, owning up to your mistake and taking action yields positive results.

•    92% of consumers said they would be willing to go back to a company after a negative experience if they ..........
•    Received a follow up apology/correction from a supervisor/head office (63%)
•    Were offered a discount (52%)
•    Or were offered proof of enhanced customer service (49%)

YOU MUST RESPOND
•    58% of respondents would like the company to respond if they left a comment on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter.
•    But only 22% of those who actually did leave a comment on a social networking site got a response.
•    42% expect a response within a day
•    39% within a week
•    7% within an hour
•    2% within a minute

For full report see..
Presentation ppt
Site  pdf

Creating business-wide content engagement strategies to increase long term customer value

Was interested to read that  61% of client and 57% of agency respondents believe that intolerance for poor customer service would increase over the next 12 months in this article by Clare O’Brien a member of the cScape Customer Engagement Unit and co-founder of CDA: 

So much energy in online marketing and customer engagement is focused on building customer relationships for acquisition that the place where the real relationships are fixed or broken – customer services/customer support/account management/member services – is often sidelined at the planning and resourcing stage. Whatever it’s called, it’s the point at which the often expensively acquired customer is handed over to another part of the organisation.