With the lousy economy having focused consumers' attention on price when they spend their money, it's easy to forget that other factors affect their purchase decisions. But, as a report released last month by American Express makes clear, customer service -- or, often, the conspicuous lack of customer service -- plays a large role in people's choices and attitudes toward companies.
EVEN IN THE LOUSY ECONOMY . . .
More's the pity, since polling for the report (fielded in April by Echo Research) finds respondents unimpressed with the level of customer service they receive. Though 62 percent said customer service is "very important" (and 32 percent "somewhat important") to them when deciding to do business with a company, just 24 percent agreed that companies "value your business and will go the extra mile for you." Forty-eight percent gave a more middling grade, agreeing that companies "are helpful, but don't do anything extra to keep your business." A sterner one-fourth of those polled think companies "take your business for granted" (21 percent) or "don't seem to care about your business" (5 percent).
It scarcely helps matters if the companies themselves have a loftier view of how they treat their clientele. "The key point for companies to keep in mind is that great service doesn't come down to what a company thinks about its performance or its own notions of what its consumers think," says Jim Bush, executive vp, world service at American Express. "It's all about the voice of the customer and what the customer thinks after every interaction."
. . . IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT PRICE
Companies that think the current importance of price means customer service doesn't much matter are certainly out of sync with consumers. True, 75 percent of respondents identified "value for the price" as a factor that's very important to them when deciding whether to do business with a company. But nearly as many, 65 percent, accorded the same degree of importance to the "overall quality of customer service." Customer service outpolled such considerations as "benefits the product or service provides" (60 percent), "convenience" (44 percent) and "the way the product or service makes me feel" (46 percent).
Nor is it the case that the economic downturn has somehow undercut the importance of customer service. Quite the reverse, according to the survey's findings, as the need to get full value for one's constrained spending actually makes good customer service more of a necessity from the consumer's point of view. Sixty-one percent of respondents agreed that, in the current economy, "good customer service is more important." A mere 4 percent said it's "less important," while 34 percent said its importance to them "has stayed the same."
Here again, though, many consumers find companies failing to rise to the occasion. Thirty-seven percent agreed that "businesses have increased their focus on providing good customer service," but a majority feel that "businesses pay less attention to providing good customer service" (28 percent) or "have not changed" (27 percent) in their attitudes about it.
THE RECESSION'S OPPOSITE EFFECT
Beyond consumers' determination to get full value for their money, might the harshness of today's economic environment also make them wish for a virtual hug from companies' customer service? "Yes, we do think consumers are looking for more engagement from the companies they work with, and at American Express we actually talk about the idea of giving customers a hug over the phone," says Bush. "We are increasingly hiring customer-care professionals from nontraditional call-center backgrounds, like hospitality, who know how to build strong and lasting relationships with customers."
PROBLEM SOLVING . . .
The survey asked respondents to specify what matters to them when they have occasion to interact with a company's customer service. The highest "very important" votes went to "effectiveness/resolution of the issue" and "knowledgeable customer-service representative (84 percent each). Close behind was "courteous customer-service representative" (79 percent), followed by "attentiveness" (74 percent), "human interaction" (73 percent) and "speed of response/efficiency" (72 percent). "Not being put on hold" is very important to 51 percent of respondents. The polling also found 78 percent saying that, when they have a customer-service issue, they're "very interested" in resolving it by "speaking with a 'real' person on the phone." Many fewer (30 percent) said they're very interested in dealing with the matter through a "company Web site or e-mail."
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