When it comes to experiences with companies, customers revealed what bad ones look like.
Even better, they were willing to share what they consider a good experience to be in a new Zendesk survey.
Customers were asked to identify factors contributing to a bad experience. Here’s what they said (the percentage that agreed with each contributing factor is listed):
- I had to explain my problem to several people (72%)
- The person I dealt with was unpleasant (67%)
- My problem took too long to resolve (65%), and
- The problem was never resolved (51%)
People and processes factor into bad customer experiences. One of the best ways to work around or avoid long waits and tiered help is to give customer service reps a toolkit of approaches for resolving issues. That way, customers don’t experience stodgy scripted service and reps are trained and empowered to match the situation with the best possible resolution.
Know what the good stuff looks like
When the proper training and options in place, service pros can deliver more experiences like those customers describe as ideal.
In the same study, customers were asked to identify factors involved in a good experience:
- The problem was resolved quickly (69%)
- The person who helped me was nice (65%)
- The problem was resolved in one interaction — there was no passing around to multiple people (53%), and
- The outcome was what I was originally hoping for when I contacted Customer Service (47%).
Even when you provide a great customer interaction, you’ll likely have to work harder at getting the word out. Most customers admitted that they share poor customer experiences with friends, family and social media contacts more than good experiences. So if customers are happy, remind them at end of conversations to mention the good products and excellent service they receive to others.
