Tuesday 11 December 2012

Utilities are satisfactory ‘only a quarter of the time’

Customers feel they get satisfactory service from their utility a paltry 25% of the time. The jaw-dropping figure came from a wider survey which also found a chunky 80% of customers are willing to pay more for superior customer service.

Utilities performed so poorly, consumers think they get better service from telecoms (50%), electronic goods (30%) and even financial service (26%) companies more often.

The research report, “Why Customer Satisfaction is No Longer Good Enough” was carried out across Europe in June 2012 by independent research company Loudhouse. It surveyed 1400 online shoppers (50% female, 50% male) who had made a complaint or enquiry to a customer service department in the last 12 months.

Danny Rippon, at online customer service provider Oracle which carried out the research said: “Our report has made one thing absolutely clear: getting customer experience right can help increase revenue and win customers away from competing organisations. By creating a consistent and connected experience across all points of customer contact – including the increasingly important social channel – businesses can clearly differentiate themselves and build priceless brand capital.”