BARBADIANS ARE LONGING for improved customer service so much that they would willingly spend more money to get it.
But local businesses should not take any comfort from that fact because the majority of consumers are ending their patronage of companies after just one bad experience, while most “decided against doing business with a company they had intended to do business with because of poor customer service prior to the sale”.
Additionally, a number of Barbadians say they feel “trapped” and are only doing business with some companies because there is no one offering a competing product or service.
The good news is that most people would switch to a company because of its reputation for good customer service.
It is all based on the findings of A Study On Customer Experience In Barbados, new research conducted by economic consulting firm Antilles Economics in partnership with branding agency Blueprint Creative Inc.
“When asked to reflect on their previous experience, 53 per cent of respondents admitted that they stopped doing business with a company after just one bad experience, while 95 per cent stopped doing business after multiple bad experiences. Furthermore, 90 per cent of respondents decided against doing business with a company they had intended to do business with because of poor customer service prior to the sale,” the report stated.
“Customer service is so important to respondents that 26 per cent stated that they would definitely pay more to ensure better service, and an additional 58 per cent stated that they would consider paying more. Of those that stated that they would pay more, almost 80 per cent suggested that they would be willing to pay an additional five per cent to 25 per cent.”
The report also suggested that the fact that a company served a number of customers did not mean it had high customer satisfaction.
“When we asked respondents if they had ever wanted to stop doing business with a brand/company but could not, 74 per cent said yes. This suggests that not only is a large percentage of respondents feeling trapped, but also that companies may not be able to solely rely on customer churn as an indicator of customer satisfaction, since many unhappy customers feel unable to cut ties with the company,” the study found.
“The most frequent reason for feeling trapped is respondents believing that the service provider is the only one in Barbados offering their desired product/service.”
The online survey collected responses from 404 customers between April and May. Most of the respondents were women (67 per cent), covering “the full range of incomes, regions and ages”.
Antilles Economics and Blueprint Creative said the findings “suggest that customer service is important to Barbadian consumers, and businesses that want to gain a significant sustainable competitive advantage should seriously consider taking a look at their customer service initiatives”.
They recommended: include customer service as a part of the overall business strategy; develop proactive policies and systems that continually monitor customer service levels; and involve the entire team. The two companies said the study was “motivated by the need to provide companies operating in Barbados with data to inform their customer service strategic decisions”.
Commenting on the survey results in an interview published by Antilles Economics, Blueprint Creative managing director Ron Johnson said one “main take-away” was that Barbadian companies may be losing customers through bad customer service without even knowing they were.
“The survey uncovered that while a significant number of consumers are likely to switch to a competing brand due to poor service, they are less likely to register their dissatisfaction with management. This may lead to a scenario where customers have already switched to a competitor before management even realises that it has a customer service issue,” he said.
“This could be potentially devastating for companies as it may eventually lead to an exodus of customers before the company has had a chance to address the deficiencies in service. Management teams who are more proactive in monitoring their company’s level of customer satisfaction may find themselves in a better position to use customer experience as a competitive advantage.”
