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April 16, 2005
Innovation Needed To Improve Modern Customer Service Experience
It occured to the me the other day that despite multitudes of various advances in technology in the last ten years, I can't say as though the typical customer service experience I have has improved in any measurable fashion.
I think the biggest problem is that companies are not taking the kind of active role in measuring and managing the quality of customer experience that they do with other areas of their business i.e. market share, productivity, product quality, brand awareness, etc.
The largest problem is the question of priority.
It's not a priority.
As competition creates downward pricing pressures, businesses tend to focus on matters that equate in very direct terms to the bottom line and are easily measured on the ledger. But things that have a tremendous impact on the bottom line but are not as easily measured are ignored.
How many times a day do companies have loyal customers walk away, never to return because a sales clerk had a bad day and messed up the order or said something rude? And although customer churn and attrition is a well-known phenomenon, companies have not found ways to reach out and even detect this activity in any detail let along discover the reasons why. This leaves them managing customer loyalty in the dark and without the means to extend their hand to the alienated customer and bring them back.
Despite millions of dollars spent and lots of chatter about things like customer relationship management, creating "markets of one" and developing "value-added relationships" with customers, true innovation where the rubber hits the road in the customer relationship is yet to come of age.
Perhaps with the notable exception of the occasional corner grocer and owner/operator entrepreneurs. But if I recall, they had it right in the first place.
Posted by Derek Leverington at April 16, 2005 10:33 PM