Customer Satisfaction is Declining in the UK!

A new report by the Institute of Customer Service indicates that Customer Satisfaction is declining in the UK. Earlier this year reports from both Nunwood and Forrester, two firms entrenched in the Customer Experience movement, presented similar sentiments. All of this disappointing news about the state of Customer Experience makes one wonder what is going on in business today?

We decided to ask the expert Joanne Causon, CEO of the Institute of Customer Service what she thought the problem was with Customer Satisfaction. Moreover, we asked her why we are seeing the results we are and what we can do about it moving forward.

It is important to note that the ratings are not plummeting. The downward tick is from 78.2 to 77.1. It is not a significant drop. The concern is the direction of the numbers and how long they have been moving in the wrong direction. Two years, it seems, is indicative of a trend.

The Institute of Customer Service is an independent membership body that undertakes research designed to help businesses up their customer service games. Their survey, the UK Customer Satisfaction Index Report, is one of the most robust in the industry. They run their research twice a year and have done so for the past ten years. For all of these reasons, the Institute is considered a barometer for Customer Satisfaction. Furthermore, it addresses 13 different industry verticals and receives over 45,000 responses.

The areas the survey covers include the following five:

• How professional is the website or how knowledgeable are the people with whom you interact at the organization?
• How easy is it to do business with them?
• Does the product or service meet your expectations?
• Is the company sufficient at resolving conflict, and do you feel resolution from the outcome?
• Are they timely in their responses?

This year, the Institute also explored some of the emotional indicators that predict customer satisfaction. For example, they asked if customers felt the organization was doing the right thing? Also, they asked respondents to judge whether organizations were transparent in their business dealings.

To summarize the report, overall Customer Satisfaction is declining in the UK. Fixing it is complicated because there are several factors at work that are dragging the number down.

One of the most significant problems, however, is that many organizations focus on the wrong things in Customer Experience. In my view, too many organizations do not concentrate their efforts on areas that create value for the customer. What’s worse, they don’t know what those areas are.

Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about why Customer Satisfaction is Declining in the UK and what that means for your Customer Experience.

 

The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to help you improve your Customer Experience by unlock the ‘hidden’ aspects of your experience and what drives value for you to enable you to take your experience to the next level

If you would like to find out more in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.

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