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Want Loyal Customers? Make it Easy for Them to Get their Problems Solved

Guest post by: Mark Johnson

Article Overview: While it is often believed that to increase loyalty companies need to WOW customers by exceeding expectations, what customers really want (and rarely get) is just a satisfactory solution to their service issue.

Want Loyal Customers? Make it Easy for Them to Get their Problems Solved

A recent article in Harvard Business Review (“Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers,” August, 10, 2010) discusses recent research which found that

While it is often believed that to increase loyalty companies need to WOW customers by exceeding expectations, what customers really want (and rarely get) is just a satisfactory solution to their service issue. In fact, recent research found that loyalty has more to do with how well companies deliver on their basic promises than on exceptional the service experience is.”

The just-released customer service survey of more than 75,000 customers conducted by the Customer Contact Council (CCC) revealed that:

1. Exceeding expectations during service interactions has negligible impact on customer loyalty. While surveyed customers were more interested in how well a company delivers on their most basic, plain-vanilla promises rather than being dazzled and having their expectations exceeded, a full 89% of customer service department heads had 'to exceed customer expectations' as their main strategy.

2. Service organizations create loyal customers primarily by reducing customer effort. This means helping customers solve their problems quickly and easily – not delighting them in service interactions.

3. Customer Effort Score (CES) tops the charts with the highest predictive power. In the customer service environment, Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) is a weak predictor of customer loyalty. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is slightly better.
 By decreasing customer effort to purchase companies can drive increases in repurchase, spend and brand advocacy.

A Harvard Business Review article, "Stop trying to Delight Your Customers,"by Dixon et al that summarized these research findings recommends that customer services representatives should focus on reducing the effort customer make by anticipating and heading off the need for follow-up calls, addressing the emotional side of the interactions, minimizing the need for customers to switch service channels, listening to and learning from disgruntled customers, and focusing on problem solving not speed.

Customers want their problems fixed … fast and easily



Consumers are drawn to companies that that offer quality products at a good value. Most often, we defect when they fail to deliver on customer service. In fact, when customers reported that a “very low effort” was required to have their problem resolve:

· 94% intended to repurchase

· 88% said they would increase their spending

But when the effort to resolve the problem was considered by the customer to be “very high,” a whopping 81% intended to spread negative word of mouth.

These findings clearly indicate that “making it easy” for customers to interact with customer service to get questions and problems resolved is an optimal way to enhance customer loyalty.

So, you ask, how does a brand make it easy for customers?

The study uncovered three primary reasons customers have to expend extra effort/work hard to get their problem or question resolved. These are having to:

· Place multiple calls to address the same issue

· Repeat the same information to multiple contact points

· Switch from one service channel to another

Training and information are the keys for success. Armed with proper training and equipped with the information, tools and authority to head off future problems, customer service reps can eliminate the need for multiple calls and make it faster and easier for consumers to get their problems solved.

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Article Tags: loyal customers, loyalty, Loyalty 360, Mark Johnson, satisfactory solution



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Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
20% increase - One of my businesses uses a system to help business owners manage customer relationships and encourage more referrals. I'm finding that this economy is making business owners take a second look at their business and it's assets (aka customers) to see how they can leverage them. Make those Customers (one-time sale) into Clients (repeat sales). I'm finding them more open to having this discussion with me and the results are speaking for itself. Everyone I've worked with so far has seen at least a 20% increase in sales or referrals within 4-6 months all done by managing an existing relationship.
Re: Quote of the Day - "The only people witho - Thanks for sharing this Evan, there are some very powerful quotes in there, I particularly like this one:- You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. regards, Mal.
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - When I came back to Japan in 1999 I sometimes used to ask my students if they would buy anything on the Internet and at that time most thought it was too risky. I'd encourage them to try by using well known sites such as Amazon.co.jp and also pointed out that using a credit card on a reputable site was safer than using it at a restaurant. I can't remember the last time I had that discussion or when the "tipping point" occurred in Japan. To answer your other question, I use Paypal for several reasons: 1. Brand familiarity 2. Easy to use 3. Free to withdraw 50,000yen+ to my Japanese bank account - a huge benefit (but maybe other systems also offer that...?) 4. Easy to cancel subscriptions On the down side, their transaction fees are quite costly, they are difficult to contact and when disputes arise you can sometimes lose even when you can prove via your tracking service that the disputed item was "delivered" to the customer's address!


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