There’s a lot to dislike about the customer experience, according to people in a recent survey.
For some people, certain factions of the customer experience are so bad they’d rather deal with traffic and doggie doo-doo.
That’s the finding from a recent Skipton Building Society survey on people’s top 50 pet peeves. Rising to the very top of the list? Pressure selling.
Consumers resoundingly said they can’t stand it when someone tries to sell them something they don’t want or haven’t asked about in the conversation.
Other customer experience-related pet peeves in the top 10 included pushy salespeople, being put on hold, dealing with customer service personnel in offshore contact centers and spam emails.
All of those were more irksome than having to see or deal with dog mess on the sidewalk, and driving issues such as pot holes, getting stuck behind slow drivers, navigating heavy traffic or putting up with people who take up two parking spaces.
Reverse the day
Many of the pet peeves can happen before people even deal with anyone involved in a company. For instance they may have a doo-doo sighting on their morning walk, experience heavy traffic on the way to work or see a two-spot parking job outside their favorite coffee shop. That gives front-line customer experience professionals the opportunity to improve on the day.
A couple of tips to make the day better:
- Hold the sale. Yes, a customer service event is a good opportunity to sell, but front-line personnel must proceed with caution. The first key: Once the service issue is handled, ask customers for permission to introduce them to something new or different.
- Hold the email. The same goes for sending customers offers via email. Get their permission first. You have to do it, by law, anyway.
- Stop the hold. Instead of putting customers on hold while pulling up information or answers, explain how long it will take and ask if they’d prefer a call back.
