Five Things You Should Know About Managing Customer Interaction

1. When customers leave, it’s rarely due to the product. Studies repeatedly confirm: customers cease their loyalty because of service – 68% of the time (Customer Obsession, Ad Nederlof, The Anton Press, 2002).
   
   
2. Why do customers remain loyal? When Forrester’s CRM experts conducted a poll, they asked this very question. 65% of the respondents cited “Because they know me”. Recognition pays off.



3. First impressions count more than ever. Customer service organizations use scenario modeling – to design end-to-end service processes. However, scenarios don’t get granular enough – and miss out on each stage of the interaction. Abandon rates are highest at the first impression -- since the customer hasn’t invested much time in you. Who’s answering your phone?



4. The most interested customers aren’t always the most profitable. Call Center Magazine found that customers that consume the highest proportion of your time aren’t always spending the most money. Another reason to get customer analytics in place. “Know thy customer” translates to real improvements in bottom-line business performance.



5. It costs 6 times more to acquire a new customer than keep the one you already have. This is an old statistic – and everyone gets tired of hearing it – but it remains more true than ever. Some companies claim it takes 10 times the resources to acquire a new customer. Business is still about acquiring and keeping customers – and service plays a major role when customers make the decision to“re-purchase”.

• Use the human desire to be recognized to your advantage. Get customer analytics in place to use information you have about your customers – to garner their loyalty – upsell more product and service – and guide your marketing investments. Campaigns that promote your product to customers that aren’t buying is a waste of time and money. Reverse the equation – and do it quickly.



• View customer service as a set of interactions. Analyze how you can garner maximum satisfaction at each interaction – especially the first impression. Remember the loyalty question? Even if customers find your product less robust than a competitive offering – they will stay if your service is more responsive – more convenient – or of higher quality.
  
  
• Craft customer service investments as strategies to improve the performance of your business. If an investment isn’t designed to have positive impact on your bottom-line performance, what’s the point? When you set up the business case for a customer service initiative – tie it to a bottom-line business performance metric that your CEO wants improved.