Why Customers Give You Feedback. By Martin Hill-Wilson for NewVoiceMedia

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1 Why Customers Give You Feedback By Martin Hill-Wilson for NewVoiceMedia

2 Why Customers Give You Feedback How does being a UK consumer in 2014 compare with ten or twenty years ago? Some might conclude it s been a one way journey. Digital retail is increasingly a global competition for your money. We now enjoy a level of convenience and choice previously unheard of. Yet the benefits are not entirely one way. It is pretty evident that household budgets do not stretch as far these days. Maybe the time just before the financial crash was the last golden age of our purchasing power. That said, a canny shopper told me recently that she always leaves items in her online shopping cart knowing that many retailers will offer incentives to buy after a certain lapsed time. She has learnt how to game the algorithms that drive online personalisation. It seems the art of finding a bargain, whether in a traditional outdoor market or a digital emporium, continues regardless. One of the key points about our evolving consumer behaviour is that while we might be heading towards a digital future, the path towards it is wiggly and we carry forward many of our previous habits. For instance, while the UK is often recognised as a benchmark for e-commerce, we remain wedded to the high street and are likely to remain so. According to a 2014 YouGov report The Future of Online Retail, the top reasons in the UK we do not exclusively shop online are: 1. Need to see the physical object first: 30% 2. Potential fuss of returning the item at the Post Office: 21% 3. Lack of information about the product: 21% 4. Security concerns about putting personal information and payment details online: 19% 5. A preference for the more sociable experience of shopping on the high street: 18% Some of those considerations will fade as e-commerce matures but not all. The well publicised announcement around Vodafone s intended investment in more retail presence reflects the insight that even in a sector as digital as smartphones, broadband and integrated communications, brands still need to get both digitally and physically close to their customers. Omni-channel is increasingly about nesting digital services into a high street presence as a way of combining the best of both worlds. So in terms of a retrospective on channels behaviour we can clearly mark the distance already travelled. But how else have consumers changed? New found expectations around communication and information sharing have to come a close second in terms of importance. The topic of information sharing finds consumers in a contrary mood. They want brands to be relevant, but not intrusive. A difficult balance to achieve, it seems. In this respect many organisations are doing nothing to help promote their broader trust agendas in the way they are using customer data. Of course we have long accepted the price that comes with so called loyalty cards. But who said we are logical in what we find acceptable? The following 2014 research clearly shows we currently take exception to how brands harvest our social profiles. Internet Users in Great Britain Who Are Concerned About Social Networks Monitoring/Collecting Their Information, by Demographic, Jan % of respondents in each group Concerned Not concerned Don t know Gender Female 6 31% 5% Male 56% 41% 4% Age % 4 9% % 3 5% % 36% % 44% 4% % 34% 5% % 29% 2% Total 60% 36% 4% Note: numbers may not add to 100% due to rounding Source: TNS BMRB, The Public Opinion Monitor, Feb 3, 2014

3 Moving on, what s also new about consumer communication habits and expectations? Do consumers feel more empowered now that social media has given them a voice as is often claimed? Or are they just generally keener to say what they think about a brand s performance? Certainly there was a time in the UK when getting customers to readily share their views about a brand was like pulling teeth. But has the smartphone toting consumer now become addicted to answering the NPS question that seems to pop up every time a brand notices we breathe? NewVoiceMedia commissioned Opinion Matters in February 2014 to find out more about what motivates consumers to give organisations feedback. 2,040 UK consumers were polled, representing a balance of gender, geography and age group. This is what we discovered. To start with we tested the notion that stakes around service standards have risen. In other words, customers are less tolerant of poor quality service experiences and are prepared to take a stance. This is what was discovered when the respondents were asked When you give feedback to a company, what is your aim? 1 12% 12% 32% 49% 57% 64% 11% 27% 9% 46% 4% 22% 4% 1% 2% 1% n Strongly agree n Agree n Neither agree or disagree n Disagree n Strongly disagree It seems that as a nation, we do indeed expect more. Close to three quarters of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that People are standing up for customer service standards, more these days than 10 years ago. Perhaps unsurprisingly those with longer memories tended to agree more strongly with the suggestion. Customer Motivations If customers are prepared to stand up for better standards, does it follow they are prepared to engage with organisations towards that end? The research clearly shows this is the case. So what actually motivates customers? Are they just interested in letting organisations know where they are failing? Or are customers more balanced in their feedback? 1% n To express your opinion n Let the company know where they are performing poorly n Let the company know where they are performing well n Thank the company for their service n Get some kind of compensation n Encourage others to use that company / product n Discourage others from using the product or service n I never give feedback to companies n To influence others n Damage the reputation of the company / product n To get a response from the company on social media n To gain more followers on social media n Other n To get likes on social media Their top aim was to express an opinion. In fact 64% were motivated for this reason. More specifically 57% did so to let companies know where they were doing poorly while 49% still bothered to let companies know where they were performing well.

4 While this suggests that consumer feedback for most brands is likely to be tilted towards opportunities to improve, it is encouraging to recognise that consumers are willing to point out the upside. In fact almost a third (32%) gave feedback just in order to thank a company. Let s hope that the conclusion we can draw from this is that consumers are rarely vindictive and in the main will provide a balanced assessment. The fact that just 4% used feedback as an opportunity to damage a brand s reputation seems to support this. It is also worth pointing out that just over a tenth of customers see feedback as an opportunity to influence others to either buy or not. This is something commonly seen in social media research and is evidenced by the sheer volume of feedback that review sites such as TripAdvisor, Amazon and Yelp generate. Does Social Media Help Customers Be Heard? The impact of social media as an enabler for customer feedback drew some interesting responses. Nearly a quarter of respondents did not agree (disagree/strongly disagree) with the statement Social media empowers me and gives me the opportunity to share my positive experiences easily or complain. At the other end of the opinion spectrum 37% (agree/strongly agree) experienced social media as an aid to being heard. Most (40%) however stayed neutral, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. 8% 11% 16% 26% % Could this polarisation reflect the relative immaturity of UK consumers using social channels for voicing customer service issues? And might this soon change? Volumes are certainly growing. For instance a March 2014 update to an ongoing benchmark of 32 top global brands by Simply Measured revealed a 44% year-on-year increase in mentions of dedicated customer service handles over a month s worth of tracking their Twitter traffic. Customer Mentions (monthly average) n Q n Q n Jan ,210 69,659 95,646 20,000 40,000 60,000 80, ,000 Although such growth is strong, it remains a small percentage of overall service traffic. So maybe most who answered our survey did so without any direct experience of having contacted brands in this way. It will be interesting to retest this question in years to come. A lack of hands on experience seems to be confirmed by answers to the next question which probed why people give feedback on customer service via social media? Most (52%) said they never give feedback in this way. But for those ahead of the adoption curve, some clear reasons emerged as to why they communicate socially. A quarter cited convenience. This is understandable. Facebook and Twitter are easy to access interfaces on all mobile devices. Moreover making your point does not demand you need find the organisation first. Social listening recognises that customers can and will communicate anywhere across the social web. n Strongly agree n Agree n Neither agree or disagree n Disagree n Strongly disagree

5 A further group picked out the leverage that transparent communication offers to all social customers. It reaches many people 20% It gets action from the company I m feeding back about 16% So for those early adopters, the benefits of engaging with organisations publicly are already clear to see. 16% 20% 24% 52% Concluding Thoughts It would be fascinating to compare the organisational impact of consumer feedback based on whether it was delivered privately as most respondents still do, or if delivered publicly for others to witness. Of course both sources ought to receive equal attention and subsequent action. But there is growing belief and some evidence that organisations become more motivated to improve their customer service when it is on show via a social network. If so, then maybe another retrospective in ten years time will draw a more definitive conclusion from UK consumers. As it stands today, the jury is out. 42% feel nothing has changed as far as their expectations for better service. 39% feel the opposite and see a shift. Clearly the investment of turning customer feedback into actionable insight and sustainable service improvements is still being made. In the age of social engagement this is something all organisations should consciously prioritise. 9% 7% 42% 39% 12% 8% n I never give feedback on customer service on social media n It s convenient to me n It reaches many people n It gets action from the company I m feeding back about n It influences other people n I don t have to face anyone n I may get some compensation / loyalty reward n There is no consequence to my complaint n Other n My expectations on customer service are equal to what they were 10 years ago n My expectations on customer service are higher now than they were 10 years ago n I do not have any expectations on customer service n My expectations on customer service are lower now than they were 10 years ago

6 About NewVoiceMedia NewVoiceMedia is a leading provider of true cloud contact centre and voice solutions, enabling businesses of all sizes to deliver a personalised and unique customer experience, quickly and securely. Customer service is the lifeblood of any organisation and NewVoiceMedia s ContactWorld for Sales & Marketing and ContactWorld for Service make every customer interaction a great experience. Service availability and security are critical attributes of the cloud. NewVoiceMedia guarantees % service availability, and transparently backs that up with their Trust Site ( which offers real-time data on how its services are performing. Established more than 10 years, NewVoiceMedia has 200+ customers in 40 countries covering all industries, including Topcon, Photobox, DPD, Lumesse, Qlikview, British Medical Journal, CEB and Royal Mail. For further information, please visit NewVoiceMedia Services All NewVoiceMedia customers have access to comprehensive training and support. The Professional Services team works closely with all customers to design call plans and agree rules to be configured when they go live. Training the Trainer is a key part of the approach, ensuring that all customers have the ability to configure the system to meet their specific needs. In addition, all customers have access to free Customer Support from the NewVoiceMedia Service Desk. The team is available 24/7 to answer queries and requests. ContactWorld users can also log cases via the support portal and view the solutions resource for answers. NewVoiceMedia Products With ContactWorld for Sales & Marketing you can make sure you re carefully targeting who you speak to, and what you speak to them about. NewVoiceMedia has designed ContactWorld for Sales & Marketing to seamlessly integrate with Salesforce, to turn customer data into customer insight and drive more effective sales. ContactWorld for Service employs dynamic routing to enable businesses to choose how to direct calls based on the customers specific needs. Rather than treat all callers in a queue with the same importance, the solution provides a dynamic and intelligent routing that delivers calls in the most effective way. NewVoiceMedia has fundamentally rethought Workforce Management (WFM) to deliver ContactWorld Perform, a solution that simply doesn t have the pain points typically associated with other WFM solutions. With a single platform delivering a complete cloud contact centre and WFM, ContactWorld Perform enables you to take the first step towards balancing meeting the demands of your customers with resource constraints. For outbound activities, like sales calls and prospect qualification, an automated dialer is an effective way to boost an outbound team s productivity. ContactWorld Connect is available as a preview or progressive dialer; ensuring agents have the opportunity to read about and research the customer prior to making the call when necessary. This is particularly important in complex sales environments where individual customer connections result in sales. Martin Hill-Wilson: Brainfood Consulting Martin Hill-Wilson is a long standing member of the UK customer service community. He currently works as an independent under the Brainfood brand with a range of clients focussing on customer related strategy assignments. He also participates as conference speaker, workshop facilitator and blogger in his role of passing on best practice and next generation thinking. Current topics include social customer service and the broader issues involved in becoming a social business. WP EC13196 PO /14 contact us US International sales@newvoicemedia.com