How does a customer's perception of their 'treatment' from customer service impact their experience?

Speaking from a Call Center perspective - customers want a 24x7 clear connection to a quickly answered call.

When reaching out to a Contact Center - customers want access to a well thought-out IVR in order to source their own answers – or be able to easily reach a Live Operator by simply pressing ‘0’. If they have to hold in a queue for the next available operator – customers want to be advised of their estimated wait time – and they want the option of leaving their telephone number for a call back instead of having to hold on the line.

And once they’re connected with a Customer Service Representative (CSR) – customers want to speak with a CSR from their region - who is typically better able to serve and communicate with them. Customers want their questions/issues resolved by a CSR who acts professionally – is easily understood - who is not a ‘script reader’ - and who is empowered to make this a “one call & done” experience.

Typically this level of caller experience can only be provided to North Americans via a Call Center located in the USA or Canada – for Europeans via a Call Center in the UK/Euro Zone – and for Australia/New Zealand via a Call Center located in one of these two countries. Probe a little deeper – and customers will also tell you that they’re opposed to shipping Call Center jobs overseas – and particularly to countries with poor human rights records - or lax labor standards such as India.

The Call Center Agent is your ambassador to your customers. The human voice of the Agent provides your company’s human face. If your customer cannot understand the Agent due to accent issues or communicative style - the problems are compounded. Your customer can become agitated and the company may wind up losing future sales. In the present economic environment, just hearing a foreign accent could trip that trigger. Losing dollars chasing dimes is not a wise long-term Customer Care Strategy.

According to “The 2010 Contact Center Consumer Index” – an annual survey conducted by Avaya on a worldwide basis – “there is a strong and growing correlation between a customer’s Call Center experience and their loyalty to a company or brand. A single poor Call Center experience results in a 47% chance that the customer will move his or her business to a competitor”.

BusinessWeek reports that: “frustration with offshore Call Centers is so great that 72% of US consumers claim they would rather use an automated IVR system or the Web rather than speak with a foreign agent”. Similar statistics have been reported for the UK and Australia.

The Washington Post reports: “25% of Indian Call Center workers surveyed say irate calls are commonplace” - as resentment swells over the loss of jobs to India – and frustration mounts over the inability of customers to understand – or be understood by the Agents they speak with.

New York News Day writes: “Of the calls patched daily between Indian agents and American customers - more than 200,000 calls per day — involve callers who are having had a hard time understanding – or being understood by the Agent”.

Top performing Contact Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through superior hiring tactics. We help employers gain better insight & more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Candidates would perform up to, or beyond their established standards. You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html

That perception... it's the only thing that ever matters.

My theory is that if it is walk in customer service the first person the customer meets is the "receptionist" (or equivalent) and if telephonic the first person to answer the phone and that in most cases this is the most important person in the organization. But thousands of companies, big and small, put the least experienced, perhaps temporary, person at the "reception" desk and the least able to handle telephones well on phones. The same organizations spend thousands/millions on "branding" and next to nothing on training and assigning the "right" people to reception or to the first phone responder. I frequently see professional service firms who have eliminated a reception function and you must find a sign or ring a bell to bring someone to meet you and greet you. This is not a problem just of perception, which is critical, but also in reality because when your organization does not invest in customer service it is telling me, and others, that it does not value me as a customer or a prospective customer.

There are two companies who have built very successful businesses based first and foremost on customer service perceptions - neither is the cheapest and they both sell the same products and services as many other direct competitors - Zappos and Les Schwab Tire Centers. Both companies were founded by leaders who focused on the customer experience.

Anna, I'd like to expand on Michael's response. (And by the way, I think Michael is spot-on. The customer's PERCEPTION of an event can influence future behavior more than what actually occurred in the event.)

A customer's perception of how they've been TREATED during an event can have a greater impact on their future behavior and loyalty more than the actual outcome of the event. Let's take an example:

You take your car to a mechanic to have it repaired. The repair is completed satisfactorily, and at a reasonable price, but the person at the service desk was rude, and the waiting room was dirty (with stale, day-old re-heated coffee!)
Your perception of the service facility would likely be poor, even though, technically, the outcome (vehicle repair) was quite satisfactory. You may not return again, because of how you were treated.

Tom Peters presents similar evidence in "Little BIG Things" - specifically on page 117 where he describes the high-touch experience-oriented initiatives that The Griffin Hospital in Connecticut has in place, to impact a customer's perception of his/her stay. Even a business as highly outcome-oriented as a hospital, is taking major steps to maximize the perceived experience.

Start by doing what you say you'll do. Too often we skip past the idea of accomplishing something to get to the customer experience. We miss the fact that the customer arrives at the service encounter to get service that fixes a problem. We assume that good customer service is a given in our organizations but that's not necessarily so.

As Michael Moaz recently wrote, "Along comes everything “Social” to cure the malady of poor service. Let the customers uncover the bad processes, and point out the poor agents. We could just as well listen to the service representatives. After all: they hear what customers are saying, and feel their pain. It’s just that no one in management has cared to tap into the employee.

Yikes! We forget that simple competency is a virtue and that a lot of customer experience issues start with incompetence, not with whether or not the service rep. used our name, apologized for something that wasn't his/her fault or kept us waiting.

Perception is everything, to be sure. And, perception isn't limited to "customer service" functionaries. Ultimately, it's a deal or no-deal binary risk. The bad perception, accurate or not, can kill the deal, whether it's a carpet, an automobile, or a healthcare provider involved.

Great question Anna,

I am not sure what business you are in, or what your products, services, promotions, pricing, etc. (4p's) are, but at the end of the day your experience IS your perception. And, Anna, you get to repeat it and change it with another service rep, or kill it by switching to another company based on your love, like or hate it perceptions.

Your buyer experience is a journey. Like all journeys, you have a set of expectations, the promise. Based on the 4P's yes, but but add to that the expected promises made, the performance of product and the people connected to it (the sales clerk, the rep on the phone, the person that comes to your home, etc...etc.). Now take your objective and subjective measures and that's your perception. Perception is the sum total of how we view of the Brands Value. The people are great, the experience is incredible, they were fun, they were smart, but the product stunk and they didn't fix it, ANGER, etc.

That's what experience is, isn't it? The sum total of our perceptions (objective and subjective) from which we form our opinion/judgment of the brand and it's value.

Smile, it cost nothing but adds a lot...

My personal best,
Ketih

Everyone above has basically already answered the question – I will just throw a bit of my thoughts into the mix as well.

Currently I deal with small-medium sized businesses across the country. Some are local to me – some are not. But, more than a few of them have come to me because of poor customer service. They get tired of constantly dialing a toll-free number and not speaking to one specific person. That is, if they get a return call in the first place.

There is always a chance you might loose someone to better pricing or location, but never let it be because you were too lazy to pickup the phone and talk to your customer.

Dan's got it, perception is everything. One of the challenges we daily face in our various businesses is to maintain a customer focus. We all too frequently get caught up in the day to day internal minutia of our businesses and forget who is paying the bills and our salaries.
One way to look at your own business's performance is to think about how you like to be treated when you deal with another business, and then apply that to your own business. If your business doesn't meet your needs as a customer, how do you expect it to meet another customer's?

All the customer, all we as customers have, is our perception. The reality may be far different but it's our perception that influences, flavors, and determines our customer service experience. It's similar to the saying, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder.' Customer experience lies in the customer's perception of the experience.

View the situation from the customer's eyes. Each situation is unique because everyone perceives it differently. That's why successful people in customer service can adapt and find different solutions to a variety of situations.

Very cliche and old school I know...but taught a long time ago that "perception is reality". I agree with it 100%. A customers perception IS their experience/level of satisfaction with that experience. Don't believe me? Ask them. As a consumer, ask yourself. Does your perception(s) influence your behaviors and decisions?

-Brad Lindemann

Basically, if a customer feels that he or she has been treated in a negative way, this will color his or her feelings about the company. This can cause a company to lose that customer and in turn the potential for continuous revenue.

If a customer has a pleasant experience, then the company is more likely to retain his or her business. A funny thing can also happen, new business can be generated by positive word of mouth.