Satisfaction Guaranteed or . . .
The right incentives can work wonders. That was the experience
of a technical support team that offered callers total
satisfaction or a free ice cream sundae. Their ideas was to offer
a free sundae to anyone who called for support that month, left a
detailed voicemail message explaining the problem, and didn’t
feel the call was returned quickly enough.
(Actually, to avoid a mushy melted mess, what they offered to
give out was a coupon for a sundae, rather than the real
thing.)
The team’s objective was to encourage callers to leave more
complete and relevant information in their voice mail messages.
Detailed, informative explanations would improve the odds that
team members would be able to call back with answers rather than
requests for more information ("Your what is
blank???").
Callers were also asked to indicate a priority, such as
"rush" or "within 2 hours." This would enable
the team to respond to calls in a priority sequence. Contrary to
what you might predict, this request for a priority didn’t lead
callers to claim all problems were top priority. In fact, many
callers said the problem could wait to the end of the day or the
next day for help. As a result, the team knew what was genuinely
high priority and could take timely action.
The notice to customers about the sundae offer stated that the
tech support team would respond to all voice mail messages
quickly. But (and this is key) it didn’t say how quickly. The
team debated the pros and cons of attaching a time to the offer,
such as, "A free sundae if we don’t get back to you within
10 minutes." But they decided that it’s the customer who
must decide whether the turnaround time is good enough; customers
have different ideas about what’s good service, depending on
their needs and priorities.
Was this offer successful in getting callers to leave detailed
messages? Absolutely! Even better, many callers actually hoped
their calls would not be returned quickly so they could collect a
$1 coupon for ice cream! In fact, some callers complained,
"On, no, you called back too quickly . . . I wanted a free
sundae!"
And what about those free sundaes? How many hundreds of
coupons did they end up giving out to callers who felt their
calls weren’t returned fast enough? None at all. Not even
one!
This lighthearted way of encouraging callers to leave detailed
messages significantly improved the quality of their messages.
And the offer of a free sundae gave callers the freedom to
categorize the service level as unacceptable — without appearing
to be a complainer as a result. Just ask for a free sundae
coupon, and the point would be made. Yet, the only complaints the
team heard were that calls were returned too quickly.
Clearly, incentives don’t have to be budget-breakers to be
effective. Tootsie rolls, anyone?
Copyright © 2009 Karten Associates. All rights reserved.
Perceptual Lags
When an organization with dissatisfied customers takes major
steps to improve service delivery, customers ought to be happy.
Yet, often, they continue to grumble and grouse. Why? Because of
what I've dubbed the perceptual lag. That is, the
perception of an improvement often lags far behind the reality of
that improvement.
The perceptual lag might seem unfair, but it's a fact of life,
and once you become aware it, you can take steps to minimize or
prevent it. One of the best ways to do this is to publicize the
improvements to the customers who've agitated for them or will
benefit from them.
A lag lesson
Consider, for example, a company I consulted to whose customers had been enduring service snags, slips and snafus. These customers -- internal business units -- would have gladly obtained the services on the outside if they had that option. But they didn't. They felt trapped and were very unhappy.
At length, following a much-needed management change, the service group undertook a major series of improvements. Over the course of a year and with significant effort, they accomplished a great deal. They were justifiably proud of the improvements they'd made and badly needed a pat on the back from their customers.
Yet, when they ran a customer satisfaction survey, the ratings barely surpassed the ratings in the previous year's survey. In reviewing the results of the two surveys, I could see how unhappy many customers still were. The service personnel were devastated. Despite all they had accomplished, many customers seemed to neither notice nor appreciate their efforts.
Although customers may be swift to complain, they're usually much slower to notice changes made as a result of those complaints. What customers tend to see isn't what's been fixed, but what's still broken. Actually, that's not surprising: If customers have endured an extended period of shoddy service, they adopt a "prove it" mentality and require an even longer period of consistently good service before they believe it's real and enduring.
A lag avoidance strategy
A major reason for the lag in improved customer satisfaction is that service personnel have done a poor job of publicizing the improvement effort and the benefits of the implemented improvements. As a result, even if customers recognize that things have gotten better, they don't associate the improvement with the complaints they had voiced.
To minimize the perceptual lag, start by identifying customer grievances. Use surveys, customer interviews, a review of service records, and other methods of your choice. Summarize the grievances into a small number of categories. Identify specific actions you can take for each category, or at least those deemed highest priority. Then put on your public relations hat and notify customers about your proposed plan for making improvements. Involve key customers in evaluating and finalizing the plan, so they'll have a stake in your success. Let them know the part they can play in helping you help them.
Make sure customers are aware of the improvements you're working on. Report your progress regularly, and keep making the linkage between their grievances and the action you're taking. When you've made a change, inform them. Communicate, communicate, communicate. And while you're at it, be forthcoming in acknowledging that there's much left to do.
When service has slipped, what customers often want as much as anything else is to know you take their needs seriously. In fact, personal attention often leads to higher customer satisfaction ratings in subsequent surveys, even when work on service improvements is far from complete.
If you have deliriously happy customers, the perceptual lag is a problem you're not facing. But if you're still working toward that goal, do everything you can to limit the lag.
Copyright © 2009 Karten Associates. All rights reserved.
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