Cloud CRM Software Forum

Social service: a game changer, or oil for the squeaky wheels?

I'm typically a pretty soft-spoken customer; I don't enjoy complaining or conflict, so it takes quite a bit to drive me to seek someone out in a store to complain, or to call a customer service call center number to raise Cain. Heck, I don't even enjoy calling people out in 140 characters on Twitter. However, I'm getting better (or worse, if you're a business accustomed to delivering poor service).

The numbers show I'm fairly typical. Three years ago, The Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University revealed data that showed that 30 percent of customers received what they considered to be poor customer service, but all but 2 percent said nothing about it. However, that was three years ago – I imagine that the percentage has gone up as the channels through which to complain have become easier and more widespread.

In our interview with Brent Leary, he expresses a bit of skepticism about how enthusiastic companies are about addressing customer complaints, even when they're broadcast to the world through social media. He describes it as a "squeaky wheel" syndrome – the customer who vents the loudest and the most prolifically will get attention, if only for public relations reasons.

In the meantime, the broken customer service processes that set the customer off in the first place remains broken, and there's a pretty good chance that there are other customers whose attempts to gain satisfaction with your company are being thwarted – but they're not saying anything about it. They're simply looking at your competitor and wondering if maybe its processes are a slightly less irksome than yours. The numbers suggest that for every "squeaky wheel," there are a lot more silent customers who will express themselves with their dollars.

But every crisis is also an opportunity. Instead of thinking about those silent defectors and breaking out in a cold sweat, you should look at service as an area where you can differentiate yourself. And, just as the customer now has more channels to vent his frustration, service organizations now have more channels to go out and be proactive about service. The service revolution may not be fully underway, but the tools for the revolutionaries are in place.

In order for that to happen, though, there's going to have to be a cultural shift around what service means within businesses. It can no longer be seen as a cost center; it has to be viewed as an integral part of customer retention, brand building and word-of-mouth marketing, among other things. Companies that realize this will get a head start in the race.

We'll have a major piece on the idea of Social Service on Forecasting Clouds shortly. In the meantime, ask yourself if your service operation is simply oiling the squeaky wheels or if it's really working for the majority of your customers.