Forget Net Promoter, try the Customer Effort Score. At a time when securing the long-term loyalty – and revenue – of your customers is a priority, new research shows that delighting customers doesn’t build loyalty, but reducing the effort required from them in order to get their problem solved, does.
Keith Pearce investigates… Few people will argue that the profile and behaviours of the average consumer have changed in the last 18 months. Recent ContactBabel research, commissioned by Genesys, shows that while service provision has not declined, customer complaints are up 34 per cent in the last year. Customers are just more ready to find fault and speak out about it. Customer Effort Score™: A Loyalty Predictor for Customer Service Interactions. Customer Effort Score. Posted October 1, 2010 Summary.
"Delight, don't just satisfy” has been the mantra in customer service circles for many years. Satisfied customers are not necessarily loyal was the underlying assumption. Now a research project by the Customer Contact Council of the Corporate Executive Board argues that exceeding expectations has minimal marginal benefit over just meeting expectations. In essence the authors argue that satisfaction drives loyalty more than the mysterious delight factors.