By Jeremy Melville, Senior Analytics Manager, Market and Consumer Insight, Alcatel-Lucent
There is a big gap in customer experience perception between Service Provider Employees and Business Customers. “So rarely does a customer have to wait more than a minute or so”, said one Service Provider Employee. “My impression of them [the Service Providers] is of a long time sitting on hold”, said a business customer. One theme came up in our research time and again – we were getting almost polar-opposite messages.
Alcatel-Lucent Market and Consumer Insight conducted focus groups and telephone interviews in major cities in India and the United States with Service Provider Employees and Small/Medium Enterprise (SME) Customers in June 2011. Our objective was to better understand the key drivers that lead to delivering a great customer experience on both sides of the coin; from a front-line Service Provider Employee’s perspective and an SME Decision-Maker’s perspective. What we found is astonishing.
A few points of difference include…
Employees feel they deliver a good experience, and SME Customers feel Service Providers need great improvement. Employees believe they take ownership of problems and resolve issues, while SME Customers believe that Service Providers don’t take responsibility for problems and aren’t forthcoming about what’s really going on. Employees feel they answer calls quickly, while SME Customers find they sometimes have to wait a long time in calling queues. Employees believe they transfer customer calls efficiently, and SME Customers are frequently frustrated by having to repeat who they are and why they’re calling.
The research highlighted that Employees are proud of their work. On the other hand, SME Customers don’t feel special, don’t feel rewarded for their commitment and don’t trust the Service Provider behemoths. SME Customers are constantly frustrated by their interactions – they want Service Providers to succeed but are having to spend valuable time dealing with service and billing issues often with front-line employees who are perceived as impolite and inefficient…” There’s so much beating around the bush. It takes too long, it’s robotic with generic answers”, said one US-based SME Customer. The research showed negative SME Customer interactions with front-line Employees create a low opinion of the Service Provider as a whole.
SME Customers want to feel special and think Service Providers treat them as a commodity. They have no option to go to another Service Provider as all Service Providers are thought of as the same in both service and experience. Creating a personalized, trustworthy and competent relationship with the Customer will not only increase the numbers of Customers but also the value of each Customer.
Customer Experience Managers at Service Providers can really narrow this perception gap and improve Customer revenue. They should listen to their front-line Employees for their suggestions on improving interactions, provide access to information at all touchpoints, look at what changes can be made to create a more personalized services and give Employees the flexibility and authority to make the Customer feel special.
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