The Potential Customer just Walked – How Much did it cost you?

What is the cost of a lost customer?

I have often theorized the importance of building relationships with customers and now a recent survey puts dollars to the sense of that theory.  I learned today from CustServ that the cost of lost customers equals 338.5 BILLION a year! Further investigation from CustServ’s blog led me to the article from Genesys that shares the details of the customer service survey of 16 countries. The article details the survey particulars (about 500 people per country surveyed), the worst hit industries, what ticked customers off and what set businesses apart.

My eye zeroed in on the key misses by companies.  What causes customers to walk and take their business to the competition?

Consumers feel the most significant root causes of poor service are:

• Being trapped in automated self-service
• Being forced to wait too long for service
• Repeating themselves
• Representatives that lack the skills to answer their inquiry

If we look at that list we see consumers who want to interact with another human being but more importantly – the interaction should be one in which the consumer feels like they have been HEARD and are being helped by someone who UNDERSTANDS THEIR NEEDS and has the skills and knowledge to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Further, the survey participants listed what improvements they would like to see in customer service:

When asked what they would most like to see companies deploy to improve service, 40% chose human service, but more than half of consumers chose at least one new communication channel among their top choices. In other words, “Treat my interactions as a conversation.”

Again, we are back to human interaction and BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS. Forty percent wanted to deal with another person rather than an automated system.

So what do customers value?

According to the data, consumer satisfaction increases when companies meet four key needs:

• Competency
• Convenience
• Proactive engagement
• Personalization

Proactive outreach emerged as an area in which consumers want greater engagement.  More than 86 per cent of consumers defined proactive engagement as a “strong benefit” or would “welcome proactive assistance” when stuck on the Web or in some form of self-service.

Three out of four of those items involve the RELATIONSHIP between the consumer and the sales associate or customer service representative. 

If the prospects that leave your business without purchasing were surveyed, what would be the reason they walked? How much is that costing you?  What can you do to turn prospects into customers.

It all starts with the relationship!

For a complete copy of “The Cost of Poor Customer Service: The Economic Impact of the Customer Experience and Engagement” survey, please send a request to: press@genesyslab.com