Customer care?

The top four key customer satisfaction indicators, according to IDC, are

• The timeliness of the response;

• The clarity/understanding of the issue;

• The completeness of the resolution; and

• Courtesy from the person handling the complaint.

But are we getting poorer service in these days of Internet companies and call centers? Are we lacking the personal service of yesteryears? Do the companies we deal with seem to take any real notice of the four satisfaction indicators mentioned?

A recent study of a number of Internet companies showed that only 30 percent of inquiries were dealt with in six hours, 18 percent somewhere between six and 24 hours, another 18 percent in one to three days, and the remaining 33 percent not at all!!

The whole system also seems a whole lot more complicated than it used to be; you never seem to be able to actually talk to anyone, you are more often than not directed to the website where you need to fill in some kind of online form. If you are provided with an actual number to call, you will be placed in a queue, and then be given a choice of options that seemingly go on forever… press one for this, press 2 for that. It does seem that many companies have set up a customer feedback system that is more convenient for them than it is for their customers to navigate. I’m sure that some of these exhaustive measures are set up in an attempt to actually stop us from trying to complain.

In the Philippines, there is also an aging population, many of whom may not have ever used technology in any shape or form, and it seems sometimes companies make assumptions that customers understand what is going on when they don’t.

One such IT company which makes computers had to change the "Press Any Key" command due to the number of calls it had received asking where the "Any Key" was.

Another call center help desk technician also had a number of calls from customers upset with their new computer. He had to explain that when the screen said "Bad Command" or "Invalid," they should not take it personally.

A customer who rang complaining that he couldn’t get his software to load, was informed that he should take the PC to a local "EggHead." Annoyed, the customer said he did not know any geeks. He was then told that EggHead was a software store.

• It costs five times as much to get a new customer than it costs to retain an old one.

• 13 percent of those who complain will tell more than 20 people.

• 58 percent of those asked find websites unhelpful and unfriendly.

• And on average, it now takes three phone calls to resolve a problem.

Companies out there have to learn from their customers and maybe start to provide some less complex, more human interaction. The effects of not doing this are all too well-documented.

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Bill Spindloe is a human resources consultant and trainer of Yapster e-Learning. E-mail him at [email protected].