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Martin Hayward says it’s time to redefine what we really mean by good customer service

I’m beginning to wonder whether our understanding of what constitutes good customer service is going to have to undergo a redefinition, as there seems to be potential for a growing mismatch between what companies and brands believe is good service, and what consumers really fundamentally want.

Talking to older consumers is illuminating as they remember a more local, personalised era of consumption that was slower, probably less efficient, but generally a nicer human experience. Today the onus is less about the experience, but more about the efficiency – speed, choice and minimal face time.
There seems to be a real shift occurring from right brain satisfaction to left brain satisfaction. This is clearly reflected in the metrics of ‘customer satisfaction’ dominated by wait times, transaction length, number of complaints etc. This is understandable as our lives have become commercially busier and more focussed on consumption. The benefits of choice, and value and speed have to date outweighed the declining pleasantness of the interactions.

But where will it go from here? Either the next generation of consumers will accept that there is no time for small talk and pleasantness in dealing with companies and be happy with the cost benefits of this, or maybe we will see a growing demand to be treated as a human being rather than a transaction.

I still like to believe that there is hope for a renaissance of real customer interaction. That extra few seconds of chat, that good feeling from really helping a customer, and even getting to know your customers, are still powerful drivers of loyalty and recommendation. Community seems to be one of the politician’s favourite words at the moment, yet most brands have done everything they can to remove the interactions that create community from their systems. Anonymous call handlers, fewer service positions, self-scanning, on-line help are all slaying human interaction at the altar of efficiency.

We don’t judge our friendships on efficiency, and if brands really are the multi-faceted relationships we aspire for them to be, then we forget this at our peril.

Read more Customer Champion articles on The Marketing Society blog.

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Posted: July 7th, 2011 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: Customer Champions, Customer Stream | Tags: , , | Leave a Comment »

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