A question that we often get asked is ‘Do I really need to offer my customers new ways of resolving customer issues online?’, particularly from businesses who engage with customers on an ongoing basis and claim to have a very good customer care in place.
A recent report from McKinsey found that 89% of consumers would turn to a direct competitor if customer service was poor and what’s even more staggering is 86% said they would pay extra for a better overall customer experience. UK retailer ASOS and network provider o2 are both good examples of retailers embracing digital and making it a core part of their business. This idea of paying for customer service came to a head recently when EE introduced an option for consumers to pay to jump the customer service queue. Whilst it seemed like a great idea, the backlash EE has faced highlights how passionate consumers are about getting the care from retailers.
In today’s society, the huge growth in digital and mobility has forced businesses to rethink their strategy. The idea of a business being online and offline has gone. Consumers now view the business as one, and companies should do the same.
Consumers have a lot of choice and are becoming less loyal to brands because of the plethora of alternatives available. In addition, negative reviews in social media often are a question of life and death to many retailers. How to limit negative customer reviews? This is a major issue for most retailers, online and offline.
As we are now in the ‘digital first’ mind set, it's crucial for the businesses to also educate their customers and realise that customer service is not just something ‘nice to have’. From a retailer's perspective, we recently found out that over a third of customers thought their rights online and offline were mostly the same. In some cases this might be true, but what it does highlight is the lack of knowledge. Business should be doing a better job, educating their customers.
Whilst there is no right or wrong way of improving customer care, as long as businesses accept that it should be their top priority, success is more likely to follow. Customer service and a company’s digital offering in particular should not be implemented only reactively. It’s important to be proactive and give customers a channel so that voices and opinions can be heard directly by the retailer. In that way, customers will not need not go to Facebook, but rather resolve their issues directly with the retailer. Those clients who are helpless are more likely to voice their frustration in public – which seems to be a current trend for most. The new generation of customer care tools and online applications like Youstice bring in a chance of a quick resolution – so that disgruntled customers will appreciate the way the retailer has taken care of their issues.
If retailers and customers cannot unanimously agree on the resolution, customers should be able to escalate their issues for a final resolution by a selected third-party neutral, appointed by so-called Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) providers. This option makes customers more independent – and it is very different from the „You can go to a court if you don‘t like our refund“ approach.
With today’s digital generation having such high expectations towards customer care, an organisation that doesn’t take them seriously will come up against a lot of challenges further down the line.
By Zbynek Loebl, founder of Youstice.
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