Nearly 80% of consumers stop using brands after bad experiences: Study

Have you ever abandoned any brand after a bad customer experience?

According to a recent survey by customer experience consulting group Fifth Quadrant, nearly 8 out of 10 people would abandon the brand they are unhappy with and 72 per cent would advise family and friends to follow suit.

Fifth Quadrant collaborated with cloud service provider LogMeIn to better understand the attitudes, expectations and behavioural patterns of today's consumers.

The online survey was conducted amongst 2,538 consumers across India and Southeast Asia and its findings revealed several implications for business that fall behind in customer service experience and engagement.

Wait times and general customer representative accessibility are the biggest consumer complaints.

37 per cent of those surveyed said the key to customer satisfaction is short resolution time. 43 per cent said they are most frustrated with the time taken to reach a representative and long hold times as well as automated service menus.

The survey also found that the customers want multiple channels for customer support. The availability of these channels is key because of the number of consumers who have turned to mobile and online customer support has increased over the past year.

Additionally, 48 per cent said they have used the web to look up information almost always before contacting customer service.

Based on the survey, organisations must be ready to handle interactions more efficiently and provide faster resolution as the usage of online and mobile channels increases.

Survey findings also showed that a high volume of interactions leads to greater consumer dissatisfaction as the delay to query resolution is extended. Therefore, companies need to ensure that their consumers are getting the service they expect by understanding their needs so as to improve customer retention and positive recommendation.

ssandrea@sph.com.sg