How to manage customer expectations when things go wrong.
You’ve done everything right with your marketing campaign. Inquiries and leads are up, engagement is higher than ever, and sales continue to move in the right direction. You are feeling on top of the world. But you soon discover a powerful force of nature that is also trending at an all-time high: consumer expectations.
Like many brands in the luxury products category, high-end home brands must navigate a complex ecosystem that can be equal parts risk and reward. Your job, of course, is to create a powerful brand that resonates with consumers and fuels a higher-than-average intensity in their desire. Executed correctly, your campaign is rewarded when consumers walk into the showroom and demand your product by name.
But you also face significant risk if the purchase, install or after-sale experience doesn’t meet those higher-than-average expectations – because when that happens, the same intensity that they originally felt for your brand can quickly transform into something ugly and dangerous. Consider these statistics, from research conducted by Five9, a cloud contact center software company:
Seven out of ten customers will call a company for help when they have an urgent need or concern. If the call center rep isn’t properly trained to handle the frustrated consumer, many consumers will “retaliate” and become brand terrorists.
Some studies show that as many as 51% of U.S. consumers switch brands as a result of poor customer service. In the vast majority of cases, consumers said that the company could have done something differently to prevent them from making the switch.
The good news is that 93% of consumers will be more forgiving if your call center reps demonstrate at least one of five key attributes. Your service representatives may save the day if customers feel that they are respectful, knowledgeable, friendly, patient and sympathetic.
Be sure that you work closely with your call center colleagues to ensure that the intensity which you created with your marketing campaign is sustained in a positive manner every time your customer contacts you.
Click here to download a copy of the Five9 2013 Contact Center Report.
