Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Toronto, September 11, 2012 - Poor customer service can have detrimental effects on an organization and brand. Regardless of why the service was bad, most customers don't really care – they'll vote with their feet and leave. They will also share their experience with their friends online, damaging the brand even further.

"The reasons for poor customer service can vary," Says Randall Craig, author of the Online PR and Social Media series, and president of 108 ideaspace inc. Poor hiring, ineffective or invisible training, poor attitude, and inadequate resourcing are a few potentials. However, online customer service is even more problematic.

Randall Craig offers some differences to consider:

• Customer expectations are very high, especially for problem resolution. Sometimes the customer's expectations are unrealistic, and they need to be told so.

• Customer Service needs to be as connected online as they are over the phone. Many companies now have Twitter customer service reps, but they are trained to empathize – and are powerless to resolve.

• The geography for sales may be far wider. Online business may need to cater to customers in several languages and several time zones. Using offshore support resources sounds good, but forcing the support agents to mindlessly follow a script is off-putting to many customers.

• It is possible to use databases to manage issues as they come up. Sadly, this has resulted in machine-oriented auto-responses, when a real conversation with a real person – not an anonymous 'agent' – would have addressed the issue far more effectively.

• Social Media means that word travels fast – for the good or for the bad. This speaks to the importance of monitoring – otherwise known as listening to the market.

In Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality, author Leonard Berry determined that their were five determinants of Service Quality: Responsiveness, Reliability, Empathy, Assurance, and Tangibles. Of these five, his research noted that the majority of service quality issues are connected to Responsiveness, then Reliability. If you can do well on these two, then you're in good shape.

Consider using customer service agents with personalized email addresses as it can stimulate assurance. Form letter responses are hardly empathetic. And long customer service wait times are the antithesis of responsiveness. The push for efficiency and cost effectiveness cause many businesses to lose sight of the basics. And there is no line item on the balance sheet that says Service Quality so it's not surprising that customer service is so poorly funded and executed.

Craig adds: "Try some mystery shopping in your own business. If you complain, what is the response? How quickly do they respond? Is their response automated, in template form, or customized?"



Since 1994, Randall Craig has been advising on web and social media strategy. He is the author of six books including the newly published Social Media for Business and the Online PR and Social Media series. For more information about Randall Craig visit www.randallcraig.com.

For more information contact:

Randall Craig

416.256.7773 x101 / Randall@ptadvisors.com

Carolyn Bergshoeff

416.256.7773 x 103 / Carolyn@ptadvisors.com