President Obama has struggled to deliver against some of the promises he made during his election campaign, most notably his plans to reform health services in the USA. As a result, the breathless enthusiasm with which his election was greeted has somewhat cooled. The news reports show that the President has been under critical fire, and not only from his political foes. Is his 'Customer Engagement' slipping from the election high point?
The White House Office of Consumer Affairs is the latest in a line of heavyweights to add its respected voice to those warning that, in the age of the instant communications, mobile phone and social networks, anyone who experiences a poor deal, or bad service, can make their point of view known to a wide audience very rapidly. What's more, those potential or actual customers who hear the bad news will take it seriously - and act on it.
Cutting to the chase, it's clear that any company's corporate messages of reassurance about how well they deliver on service and quality are a total waste of money and time if the customers are loudly saying 'Oh no you don't....'
Here are some of the myths the White House is keen to explode.
'My company is OK, we get hardly any customer complaints.'
Don't believe it. The White House says that for every disappointed customer who complains, a further 26 suffer in silence. Those are the American figures; what's the truth in the UK where we have a history of reluctance to complain.
'The disappointed customers are a minority, we can live with that.'
No you can't. The average disappointed customer will share their irritation with 8 to 16 other people.
'Give it time. They'll get over it.'
No they won't. 91 percent of disappointed customers will never buy from you again.
'For every customer we lose, we can get a new one.'
But at what cost? It costs at least five times as much to find a new customer as to keep an old one.
'We spend a fortune on advertising and promotions. Am I pouring money down the drain?'
Spot on. All of your customers have a contact circle of about 250 others - each of which will hear about their compaints and experiences with your company. Cut your promotions budget and spend more on customer engagement. There are now well-established methodologies to assess and strengthen your engagement with your customers. Use them.
In reality we know that the White House is talking about business' customers, not unhappy voters. None of these warning messages apply to elected politicians - or your business.
Or do they?
Tony Lord and David Butler are directors of TripleIC, specialists in the measurement of Customer Engagement. To find out more visit http://www.tripleic.com .
Tags: business-general