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Customer Service Stats to Know for 2020

14 January 2020

Customer Service Stats

By Lewis Martin – lewis.martin@ka2.io

 

There’s nothing more frustrating than a poor customer service experience. If you’ve had one, you know exactly what I mean. In today’s always-on, highly connected and customer-driven world, as consumers, we’ve come to expect personalised, efficient and proactive customer service. We expect companies to know in advance about an issue and share with us what they’re doing about it. For example, if your flight is cancelled, you’d expect that the airline would let you know before you reach the airport, and hopefully rebook you on the next flight. Though this preemptive service has become the standard expectation, unfortunately organisations don’t always deliver. 

In fact, a 2017 report from the Ombudsman Services found that 63% of customers feel disillusioned and feel resigned to poor service, and no longer trust businesses to do the right thing. For Enterprise Service Management teams – especially those that deal with external customers – delivering a great customer experience has never been more important, or more challenging. Today’s employees have grown to expect the same services, support and customer service from their IT as they do from consumer-world companies. 

Fortunately, over the past few years, changes in technology and regulation have spurred innovation in customer service, especially within highly-regulated sectors such as financial services. As we embark on a new year, it’s the ideal time to reassess the state of your organisation’s customer service and ensure you’re making the most of the latest technologies and trends to deliver an incredible customer experience, from request to resolution. Whether you’re servicing internal or external customers, these important stats from the past few years will provide insight into what customers expect and how your organisation can deliver. 

Customer Expectations Are on the Rise

  • £37 billion is lost by UK companies annually because of bad customer service (OMB)
  • 79% of customers will consider switching after a single instance of poor service (OMB)
  • 80% of customers say that the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services (Salesforce)
  • 50% of customers have left a brand for a competitor who was able to stay more relevant and better satisfy their needs (InMoment) 
  • 67% of customers say their standard for good customer experiences are higher than ever (Salesforce)

Technology Sets New Benchmarks for Customer Experience

  • 88% of customers agree that new technology should make customer service easier (OMB)
  • 56% of customers say companies need cutting-edge digital experiences to keep their business (Salesforce)
  • 60% of customers choose digital self-service first, yet 59% feel companies could improve their self-service options (ServiceNow)
  • 70% of customers say that connected processes (such as seamless handoffs and contextualised interactions) are very important to win their business (Salesforce)

Data Security Builds Trust

  • 95% of customers say that if they trust a company, they’re more likely to be loyal patrons (Salesforce)
  • 85% of customers will share relevant information about themselves in exchange for proactive customer service (Salesforce)
  • 62% of customers say they’re more afraid of their data being compromised now than they were two years ago (Salesforce)

Better Customer Service Means Better Business

  • 75% of CIOs say workflow digitisation increases user engagement effectiveness (ServiceNow)
  • 73% of companies with “above average” customer experiences perform better financially than their competitors (Temkin Group)

 

What Does This Mean for ITSM?

Though most organisations mainly use ITSM processes and technology to improve the quality of their IT-related services, it can also be used to support a better customer experience – and it should be. By optimising your ITSM processes to better support the needs of the modern customer, you can create and deliver value that extends across the business and achieves measurable gains in customer satisfaction, profitability and efficiency.  However, taking a more strategic approach to ITSM requires more than just modern tools and processes – it also requires a cultural shift in the way organisations approach ITSM. 

At KA2, we approach the modern ITSM function by focussing on a number of aspects that support each other, including people, processes and platforms. At the same time, considering the wider impact on information security, risk and compliance and organisational culture. Our proven method is to define the desired business outcomes at the outset and work in partnership with our clients to deliver an inclusive solution that delivers measurable business results. 

If you’re interested in applying customer service best practices to your ITSM, get in touch with our ITSM expert, Lewis Martin at lewis.martin@ka2.io