The other day in Boston I listened to a presentation on customer service by Frances X. Frei, an associate professor at Harvard University. As would be expected, the advice offered in this presentation was heavily supported by statistics, research, and case studies. What was unexpected were many of the conclusions that Frei presented. Here are some examples:
- Overall “Customer Satisfaction” ratings are terrible predictors of future performance
- It’s better to pay more attention to the “middle” customers (i.e. neither really unsatisfied nor really satisfied) to achieve better results
- A company can actually brag that they have the highest prices in their advertising and beat the competition (by being more customer focused) – the example noted was Commerce Bank
- Another company can actually improve service, reduce cost and stay consistent with its values at the same time, by focusing on the cost first, then the improvements (this was Progressive Insurance)
- An organization can pledge to “Do it Right the Second Time” and still be successful (example was Intuit)
- Positive customer experiences are more often tagged to the employee, and negative experiences are tagged to the company
- “Point in Time” benchmarking is dangerous (because it doesn’t take into acccount the overall trends associated with the compared companies)
- When it comes to influencing customer behavior, “Normative” controls (shame and blame) are better than “Intstrumental” controls (carrot and sticks). Case in point – late fees; they don’t work.
Having just spent several weeks pitching “Do it Right the First Time” with my teammates (and sporting a bracelet that said that), I did take issue with “Do it Right the Second Time”, and Frei and I ended up having a spirited (but good natured) discussion about it during the Q&A (and yes, I did give her one of the bracelets). With any concept, it’s the context that matters, and ultimately we ended up on the same page (although as she said and I admitted, she did a better job of explaining it!).
Lastly, the summation of all of this came right back around to good old common sense (but in this case supported by reams of data): in the mind of the customer, simple, transparent, and fair works best. All in all, it was one of the best presentations on this topic I have seen in a long while (a version of it is available on DVD – check out the demo to get a flavor), and it was done by someone who obviously loved what they did and was passionate about it. Well done Frances!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Regarding this: “Positive customer experiences are more often tagged to the employee, and negative experiences are tagged to the company”
A possible explanation for this: The employee is complaining/being honest about the company to customers and together they can feel depressed about the unresolved situation?
Hey Money Matador – thanks for stopping by. You may be right about that – I think people do like to commiserate together. Good point! All the best.