The Most Influential Thing a Company can Do to Increase Customer Advocacy

The most influential thing a company can do to increase customer advocacy is have a strong customer service culture -- 55% of people recommend a company based upon that experience.

Further, according to a Harris Interactive survey conducted for RightNow Technologies*, 40% began purchasing from a competitive brand simply because of their reputation for great customer service. When disgruntled, people are also voicing their opinions.

This can have a severe impact on a company’s reputation and ultimately bottom line. Imagine the result of 66% of a company’s frustrated customers on a mission to discourage others from buying from that company.

Do you know why we do that? Why 79% of the people who have a negative experience with a brand tell everyone who'll hear them? We want to be helpful to our networks, that's why.

From the report:

• 85% wanted to warn others about the pitfalls of doing business with that company
• 66% wanted to discourage others from buying from that company
• 55% wanted to vent anger or disappointment
• 24% wanted to see if the company would take action to resolve their issue

However, there is some hope that with action, things can improve considerably. 92% of consumers said they would be willing to go back to a company after a negative experience if they:

• Received a follow up apology/correction from a supervisor/head office (63%)
• Were offered a discount (52%)
• Or were offered proof of enhanced customer service (49%)

This is also what I found from analyzing conversations that occurred during a crisis in social media. People expect that companies are listening. Whether those organizations are active in social media or not, they expect to receive a response.

58% of survey respondents said they would like the company to respond if they left a comment on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter. What is the time frame for that response?

• 42% expect a response within a day
• 39% within a week
• 7% within an hour
• 2% within a minute

But only 22% of those who actually did leave a comment on a social networking site got a response. How many organizations Facebook pages have you seen where comments go unanswered? This in sales parlance means leaving money on the table. See how much in this chart from the report:

For example, RightNow calculated that the US airline industry could make an additional $10.6 billion in revenue this year if they could guarantee a superior customer experience [based upon US Airline revenue by the BTS]. This is a game-changing proposition in an industry that many of us have lost any hope will recover.

This report joins the growing body of evidence that the biggest impact an organization can have on its bottom line comes from satisfied customers. We choose where we buy and how much we're willing to pay based upon the experience we have dealing with a company.

The biggest impact we have is in our willingness to refer that brand, product or service to our network.

 

* Data from the 2010 Customer Experience Report developed by compiling the results of a survey conducted online within the United States between June 30-July 2, 2010 among 2,217 adults (aged 18 and over) by Harris Interactive on behalf of RightNow Technologies.

 

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Comments

[Brian Oates]

Not long ago I had a product fail that was still in warranty. I sent an email and didn't hear anything for a week.
I left a question via social media, and it went unanswered. So I wrote a letter.
Not long after that, the replacement arrived in the mail. Funny though, I felt unfulfilled. They blew it, but made no acknowledgment of it.
It tells me a lot about their culture. To them, once the sale is complete, it's over. Except for cross-selling and a few legal requirements.
I'm guessing you can figure out what my willingness to refer them is.

[Alexandra Reid]

I've been reading a lot of case studies recently about the successes that some businesses are experiencing as a result of revving up their customer service via social media. For example, I have come across a number of airline commercials that have successfully gone viral that show flight attendants promptly serving their (often famous) customers while dancing, singing and smiling. However, many businesses still don't have a social media presence and the majority of businesses who decide to set up social media accounts don't even have a strategy. It might take a while, but I sure hope businesses are influenced by posts such as this one and catch on soon as it makes me cringe every time I hear a story about someone who Tweeted to 10 thousand followers about a bad customer service experience. Business is service. It's time industry leaders catch on that social media is the best way they can offer it to their customers.

[Brian Driggs]

Plenty of organizations (and "consultants") seem to think social media is some kind of silver bullet. It isn't.

Those who genuinely seek to *serve* the *customer* likely adopt social initiatives naturally, as it intuitively supports those activities.

Those who are looking to social media as a silver bullet that will make their mediocre, unsupported "customer service" departments suddenly contribute to increased sales are the ones bitching about a lack of results.

I can't subscribe to the notion of people not knowing how to utilize social media when it's clear the issue is really they don't know how to (or aren't otherwise interested in) actually serving their customers.

Treat the people on the other end of the API like they were sitting right next to you - in the flesh. Why is that so hard?

[Vee Sweeney]

I had an experience with no response and it was quite frustrating. It was not over purchasing a product or service and being unhappy though. The company offered a promotion through Facebook and clearly listed their rules. The two people who won clearly broke the rules and the guidelines. I left a post regarding this and how it was not right when the majority of people followed the guidelines and they wouldn't respond. There were a lot of other irritated people as well. Classic case of social media/networking going wrong and a company who turned a positive into a negative.

[Gabriele Maidecchi]

Very nice data you have here. I can confirm all this from both a customer and a manager point of view, because I can see myself in those behaviors and I had customers come back when their problems were promptly solved.
From my experience, even if the customer experience is a mess, one "save" at the last minute makes all the difference between an angry, counter-productive customer and someone who is going to come back in the future despite the incident.

[Jeff Gibbard]

Thank you Valeria.

This is a great post, well thought out and well researched. I had a spat with US Airways on the way back from my honeymoon and found out first-hand how little interest they have in dealing with people on the social web.

You actually inspired me to finish a blog post that I had about 75% written.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Brian - and it would have not killed them to show you they heard you.

@Alexandra - "Business is service" yes, and all business is social, too.

@Brian - "adopt social initiatives naturally, as it intuitively supports those activities" a very important statement to think about. Why it is so hard? Where do we start? Good comments, as always.

@Vee - Yes, a response would have been the minimum. However, I know that many organizations are concerned with backlash to the response. What would have made the company right its wrong in your view?

@Gabriele - we actually root for the underdog. That should give people plenty of hints. A respectful behavior and a willingness to be helpful go a long way...

@Jeff - yay! I like inspiring. So you were left with the emotional aftertaste of the experience without closure. What a missed opportunity for USAir. You don't care about the next promotion, look at me now as I'm having the problem. am I right?