I’m currently researching and writing
a book on the subject of customer loyalty. As part of my research I have just
come across an excellent article from 2012 by Dr Guy Winch, a psychologist and
author based in the USA.
His article particularly interests me because
it talks about the importance of organisations having respect for their customers,
something which is sadly lacking amongst many big companies today, and which I
believe is one of the main cornerstones of achieving sustainable customer
loyalty.
I have reproduced his article below
and acknowledge his ownership of the copyright in this article.
THE PERILS OF AVOIDING CUSTOMERS' PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS
The goal of the customer service is to
ensure customer satisfaction and to enhance customer loyalty. But despite the
billions of dollars companies spend on customer service programs, our
interactions with customer service representatives often leave us feeling
frustrated and angry. What is the customer service industry getting wrong?
The Psychological Needs of the
Customer
Companies spend millions of dollars
researching their customers’ needs, yet when it comes to the psychology of
customer service, consumers have only one - respect. Feeling disrespected is the
primary cause of customer attrition. Despite this basic principle, corporations
and companies consistently and blindly institute customer service practices
that convey disrespect to their customers in various ways. Let’s break them
down:
1. Respect for our time
For many of us, time is a valued
commodity. When we encounter a problem with a product or a service, when we
have a question, or when want to place an order, making us go through an
automate menu obstacle course, making us key in responses to multiple questions
only to have a representative repeat those same questions when we finally get a
human on the line, keeping us on hold for ridiculous amounts of time, or giving
us the runaround when we have a problem, is disrespectful of our time. We don’t
only feel annoyed when this happens we feel disrespected and it is that which
will make us go elsewhere in the future. Good customer service means
hassle-free, efficient systems, especially when it comes to complaint handling.
2. Respect for our dignity
Most of us don’t tolerate being
treated rudely by other people. Surely treating customers with dignity should
be a priority for any company. Yet, so many of the customer service and sales
representatives with whom we interact in person or on the phone come across as
impatient, rude, haughty, bored, or sarcastic. Mangling our name when it is
written on their screen, making it purposefully difficult for us to resolve
simple problems, and forcing us to beg for services we’ve paid for and been
promised (I’m looking at you, health insurance carriers), is not respectful of
our dignity. Treat us like the valued customers you tell us we are.
3. Respect for our intelligence
Few of us enjoy being patronized or
manipulated. Keeping us on hold for thirty minutes while we're told how much
the company values our time, having automated message that sound like Judy
Dench when the person answering the phone sounds like Judy Tenuta, forcing
representatives with thick foreign accents to pretend to have fake American
names, and hoping to buy our loyalty with free pens, useless knick-knacks and
logoed lollipops, does not convey that a company respects our intelligence.
Just treat us like adults.
Respect should be the cornerstone of
customer service. It should be the one concept that is emphasized throughout
corporate ranks from C level management all the way down to frontline
employees. In fact, frontline employees who are treated with respect by their
companies are far more likely to treat their customers with respect as well.
Of course, respect is a two-way
street. If we as consumers want to get respect from companies, we have to be
willing to give it to the representatives with whom we interact (read about how
we typically treat customer service representatives here - it isn’t pretty).
Our complaining psychology is complex
in many ways, but in this one regard it is simple. If companies want more loyal
and less angry customers, they should make the changes necessary to treat all
customers with respect. If they did, far fewer wheels would find it necessary
to squeak.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Guy Winch is a licensed
psychologist, keynote speaker and author. His books, Emotional First Aid:
Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts (Plume, 2014) and
The Squeaky Wheel: Complaining the Right Way to Get Results, Improve Your
Relationships and Enhance Self-Esteem (Walker & Company, 2011) have been
translated into twenty languages, and his TED Talk Why We All Need to Practice
Emotional First Aid has been viewed over 5 million times and is rated among the
top 5 most inspirational TED Talks of all time. For more details visit www.guywinch.com