By: Don Yäger
Did you know that National Customer Service Week (NCSW) happens every October? But why have a whole week dedicated to that?!
We ALL have customers and should be obsessed about making sure they get value from our products and services, and focused on earning their loyalty every day. A few surprising statistics you may already be aware of:
- 76% of consumers say they view customer service as the true test of how much a company values them. (2015 Aspect Consumer Experience Survey)
- 90% of consumers now expect a brand or organization to offer a self-service customer support portal; 60% of consumers have a more favorable view of the brand if their self-service offering is mobile-responsive. (2015 Global State of Multichannel Customer Service Report)
- 73% of consumers want the ability to solve product/service issues on their own; one-third say they’d ‘rather clean a toilet’ than speak with customer service. (2015 Aspect Consumer Experience Survey)
- According to NewVoiceMedia, an estimated $41 billion is lost by U.S. companies alone each year due to poor customer service.
- 62% of global consumers have stopped doing business with a brand or organization due to a poor customer service experience. (2015 Global State of Multichannel Customer Service Report)
It has been said that the best customer service is a GREAT PRODUCT – no defects, great ease, and delivers complete confidence to the customer. The way to a great product is through being so obsessed with your customers that you care more about the 15% that complain about or don’t like your product than the other 85% who love it.
How prepared are your customer care experts that serve your customers? This is a tough, tough job and they are on the front lines EVERY day. How close are your product teams to your front line care experts? Are your care experts crucial to your product development cycle? Do your care experts feel free to provide critical customer feedback on features needed or bugs/defects detected? Do they have access to information so they can effectively support you products?
One way to take care of your customers is to recognize and take care of those that care for them every day. There is a great opportunity to recognize the work your care experts accomplish every day with National Customer Service Week (NCSW). Established by the International Customer Service Association (now known as PACE) in 1984, NCSW was proclaimed a national event by the U.S. Congress in 1992 and, then, on October 8th of 1992, President George H. Bush issued Presidential Proclamation #6485 proclaiming the first full week of October to be National Customer Service Week.
I hope you take advantage of and further investigate the opportunities provided by National Customer Service Week. Let’s remember to recognize and take care of those that take care of our customers!