Customer Service
Fast Facts

Loss of customer loyalty:

"Contact centers leave 18% of customers with unresolved issues. More than half of customers with unresolved issues (56%) are at risk of defection, or have already decided to leave." [Contact Center Satisfaction Index for 2008, published by the CFI Group]

"We spend up to 10% more for the same product with better service." [Motivation Matters, at www.successories.com, from an article "Get The Facts on Customer Service Week"]

"While 88% of customers whose issue was resolved indicate they will do business with the same company in the future, only 46% of
customers with unresolved issues indicate the same. Consequently, call centers with the ability to solve problems have enormous potential to help firms retain valuable customers and preserve the value of their customer asset. [Contact Center Satisfaction Index for 2008, published by the CFI Group]

A mere 8 percent of customers see their experiences as "superior" in contrast to 80 percent of companies that believe they are delivering superior service. [Meyer C., and Schwager, A. (2007, February) "Understanding Customer Experience," Harvard Business Review]

An unsatisfied customer tells how many people?

"Given that nothing travels faster than bad news - with estimates that reports of bad experiences outnumber good service reports
by as many as 5:1 - the importance of responsive, high quality customer service is yet again highlighted.” [Trust In Advertising, a Global Nielsen Consumer Report, October 2007]

"A person who has a good experience with a company will tell an average of eight people about it, but someone who has had a bad experience will tell 16." [TARP Worldwide Research, 2008]

Customer service & social media:

"Service is one of the biggest creators of online conversation...." [Pete Blackshaw, executive VP of Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services]

Customer service: A competitive advantage

"It is clear that the cost of acquiring a new customer is far greater than the cost of retaining an existing one. Additionally, resources allocated to customer-retention programs have been shown to return 2.5 to 3 times their cost in revenue increases." [Frost & Sullivan report, "Creating Corporate Value from the Support Experience"]

"A compulsory reaction to recessionary conditions is to dispense of anything deemed nonessential, or a 'luxury,' to business objectives, and basically strip the chassis to the power train. While this can indeed make for a leaner machine, it may not drive the way your customers prefer.... Remember that your customers are facing the very same pricing pressures, reductions and blood-pressure spikes you are. What they need is a dependable friend in the business who understands their challenges and can assure them it will be OK." "Customer Service Is Key To Survival," Tyler Dikman, CEO CoolTronics, published April 2009 in CRN.

"9 out of 10 customers surveyed considered service ahead of brand and price when considering how loyal they were to a product or business." [2008 Convergys study]

Price will always be important in a customer's purchase decision, but "outstanding service" is the number one reason customers do business with a company. [Source: Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Report 2006]

"The direct connection between revenue and customer satisfaction is well-known. A Harvard University Study (Reichheld and Sasser [1990]) showed that a reduction of 5 percent in the customer-loss ratio results in 25 to 85 percent increase in company profitability (depending on the industry)." [Frost & Sullivan report, "Creating Corporate Value from the Support Experience"]