How Poor Can Customer Service Get, and How Do You Avoid Them?

Coveo Research service relevance report shows poor customer service affects brand loyalty for 96% of customers.

Let us break this down further.

• Customers expect the service and support agents they interact with to be consistent, accurate, and fast. The inability to provide this has been listed as the biggest stress for agents in the customer service and support function by Forbes
• 22% of customers reported that they would abandon a brand if they had conflicting information
• 52% of baby boomers will drop a brand if they can’t reach an agent
• 40% of Generation Z will abandon a brand if they can’t solve it on their own
• 76% of customers said that they would abandon a brand after three negative service experiences
• 12% of customers would drop a brand after only one negative service experience
• 46% of customers said they rarely or never complained about bad experiences. This means that your customers would leave, and you wouldn’t even know why they left you.

When you look at this as a customer service or support function, you will have to provide self-service capabilities for your customers to solve their challenges while also allowing them an easy way to reach a human agent at any point in time.

Besides, you should equip the agents with the necessary tools, technology, and knowledge to deliver the relevant service experiences customers today demand.

Despite significant advances in enterprise search, customer insight, and knowledge management, agents still struggle to access the right information at the right time quickly. They are buried in a mountain of unnecessary details – 41% of the information that the average agent receives each day is irrelevant to their job role.

Why Do Agents Find It Difficult?

Every customer journey is unique, and no agent can account for them easily with the tools and technologies available at their disposal.

Let me give you an example.

A customer calls your customer service number and asks for a service. He isn’t happy with the cost at which it was being offered and hence decides not to subscribe to the service.

Now, he visits your experience center after a few weeks for a different reason, and the agent at the retail outlet has no clue about the customer’s conversation with customer service.

Though the service is available at a lower cost now, the person at the experience center is not aware of his needs, and hence, he is not able to add value to the interaction.

Isn’t this a lost opportunity?

If the agent had a single view of the customer across all channels, then this opportunity would have been converted, resulting in customer delight.

I read an article in The Guardian on the worst customer service examples of 2023, written by Anna Tims. This includes some of the large brands. My idea is not to call out these brands but to learn from these examples.

Corporate Logic Award – Barclays

Barclays is singled out for its dubious approach of telling a 91-year-old customer she was deceased to avoid addressing her request to remove her late husband’s name from their joint account. 

Mighty Backbone Award – Santander

Santander receives recognition for insisting that a bedbound stroke patient physically visit a branch on a stretcher for security checks while attempting to make an online payment.

HMRC’s Fine and L&Q’s Treatment of a Tenant

It highlights HMRC fining a widow for a tax return lapse of her late husband and L&Q’s housing association failing to address repairs for a terminally ill tenant, resulting in her eventual eviction.

Cunning Stalling Tactics – Transport for London (TfL)

TfL is noted for implementing obstacles in a scheme to encourage drivers to replace polluting vehicles, including rejecting applications based on technicalities like paper licenses and name changes.

Thrift Award – NFU Mutual

NFU Mutual is called out for offering a minimal settlement to a customer facing a 25,000-pound repair bill for water buffaloes in their swimming pool, disregarding expert quotes obtained by the company.

Outstanding Outreach – E.ON

E.ON receives a special award for evicting a mother and daughter from their social housing flat by deducting prepayment meter top-ups, forcing them out due to a debt from a previous tenant.

The Crown – Amazon

When parcels arrive empty, or not at all, or when a root vegetable has been substituted for a smartphone, Amazon refuses a refund unless they submit a police report, which it then has to verify by phone. The piece de resistance is to declare that it has been unable to get through and close the case.

What Is the Solution?

You offer something useful to your target segment, and that’s why they remain your customers. Now, you will have to figure out how to provide them with better service and support.

Utilize Technology for Efficiency

The most important aspect of offering customer service is to have a contact center platform that provides one view of the customer across all channels. I am talking about an omnichannel experience.

For instance, I can check out your products online, then walk into your store to try them and make the purchase at the store. Alternatively, I can buy your products online, and if I am unhappy after receiving the product, I can return them to your store. All of these can happen seamlessly if you have an omnichannel infrastructure.

I am assuming that you have all the basic needs of a contact center, such as intelligent routing, queue management, workforce management, list management, and reporting.

Besides, you need to have intelligence and analytics that can capture the minute nuances of your customer journey.

Let me give you a few examples:

• Your voice and text analytics can pull out frequently asked queries, which can be added to your self-service platform.
• It can raise red flags based on keywords related to the quality of your offering. This will help you avoid all agent issues and customer experience escalations
• Every agent across channels would come across at least 4 to 5 new use cases, which can be pulled together as a part of the ongoing training of agents
• Analytics can help with sentiment analysis of customers, uncomfortable silences, and long pauses, which act as cues on the nature of customer service that you provide

Invest in Comprehensive Training

Barclays faced criticism for telling a 91-year-old customer she was dead to avoid dealing with her request.

Investing in comprehensive training for customer service representatives can prevent such insensitive responses. Train agents not only on product knowledge but also on empathy and understanding of unique customer situations.

Flexible Policies and Empowerment

Santander insisting that a bedbound stroke patient visit a branch for security checks highlights the importance of flexible policies.

Empower customer service representatives to make compassionate decisions within reasonable limits. For instance, allowing exceptions for unique situations, such as bereaved customers requesting account changes.

Besides, policies should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they align with customer needs and prevent situations that hinder customer satisfaction.

Proactive Issue Resolution

Anticipate potential problems using analytics and intelligence and address them before they escalate.

For instance, if there’s a known issue with a product, proactively reach out to affected customers, offering solutions and alternatives.

Create Customer Feedback Mechanisms

Instances of customer dissatisfaction highlight the need for effective feedback mechanisms. Implement surveys and social media monitoring to gather customer insights.

Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes promptly.

Prioritize Vulnerable Customers

The mistreatment of vulnerable customers, as seen in housing association L&Q’s case, emphasizes the need for special attention.

Establish specific protocols for handling vulnerable customers and train representatives accordingly.

Transparent Dispute Resolution Processes

Instances of ineffective dispute resolution, such as demanding police reports for missing parcels, underscore the need for transparency.

Develop clear and transparent dispute resolution processes that are customer-friendly and easy to understand.

Bad customer service Vs. Good customer service

We have seen a bunch of examples of bad customer service in this article and how we can avoid them. Let us spend time understanding ‘what Good customer service’ looks like.

Good customer service builds trust, loyalty, and repeat business. It includes:

• Empathy and active listening, where agents acknowledge concerns and show understanding.
• Quick and efficient resolution of issues without any unnecessary delays.
• Knowledgeable and proactive staff who anticipate customer needs and provide solutions.
• You ensure the customer’s problems are fully solved by consistently following up.
• Offer personalized solutions and policies that align with customer needs.

Wouldn’t you agree that your customers would be happy being on the other end of such thoughtful and personalized service?

Customer service is the new product, more so in a commoditized world where all else is common between you and your competitors. Customer service is a crucial element in keeping customers happy and preserving brand loyalty.

We have had customers staying with our platform only because of the customer service that we provide them. Poor customer service should be the last reason why you should let your customers abandon you.