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Salesforce Provides Eye-Opening Customer Support Infographic for the Holidays
November 25, 2014
By Tracey E. Schelmetic,
TMCnet Contributor
While it’s universally agreed that the holidays are the most critical time of year for many businesses, particularly retail, it’s not only about sales. While sales are of course important, companies may find that the holidays are testing them in other ways: the customer experience. During the holidays, companies are interacting with many more customers in many more demographics. Think of a youthful, hip clothing store: 11 months out of the year, their customers are young and tech-savvy. During the holidays, however, they may be interacting with their customers’ parents and grandparents who are gift-buying.
It’s safe to say that companies need to ramp up all their efforts during the holidays: not just sales and call center workers, but also quality programs to ensure that the customer experience remains high during a rushed and busy time.
A recent Salesforce Desk infographic that used research data provided by Temkins highlighted the most beloved customer service brands in each state across the U.S. It also attempted to highlight some of those companies’ tactics for keeping customer satisfaction high. Highlights of the infographic included:
- 70 percent of customers say they are more likely to spend more money with businesses that have good customer service;
- Negative customer experiences are shared twice as much on social media as positive ones (no, it’s not fair, but it’s reality);
- 50 percent of the time, customers today feel their questions are not being answered;
- 67 percent of customers report they will hang up the phone if they are feeling frustrated with an automated customer service system;
- Only four percent of unhappy customers will return to a company they had a poor experience with; and
- Finally, companies that prioritize the customer experience generate 60 percent higher profits than their competitors.
It seems several conclusions can be drawn from these statistics. The winners in the business-to-consumer realm are those companies that provide fast, accurate and personalized service to customers via a matrix of interconnected channels. Though self-service should be an element of a customer support campaign, companies should make sure their self-service solutions are well designed and do not try to replace humans when a human touch is wanted by a customer. The humans involved – the live agents – should be empathetic, knowledgeable and engaged with their jobs. It’s simply not enough to have warm bodies in seats. Customers are very good today at determining when a company and its agents are trying, and when they’re not. And they’re prepared to reward companies that engage in the former and punish those that do the latter.
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