The Need for Customer Service Continues to Rise

It may be difficult to believe that customer service is more important today than ever but it really is.
In the past as many would know, through purely word of mouth, dissatisfied customers tell on average 10 people about poor experiences, who in turn tell another 5.  So for every person who actually complains about something that we come to know about, 50 people know about it. The problem of course is that various studies have shown that only as few as 1 in 25 people complain. The other 24 say nothing but still go on to tell 10 people each who go on to tell 5 others.
Or at least that was the case before the advent of social media within the last ten years.


Now the average person is involved in 3 networks with an average of 150 connections for each.
So when they get a bad steak it's not 50 people who know but closer to 450 times 450.

If this wasn't bad enough in recent years we have seen the advent and rise of powerful and consumer review sites, where customers, patrons, members and any additional parties can proactively go to these sites and review their experience in great detail, be it good or bad.

For the record, the top 10 Reviews Sites in Google Place Search are:

1. Yelp
2. CitySearch
3. InsiderPages
4. YahooLocal
5. DealerRater
6. JudysBook
7. TripAdvisor
8. Edmunds
9. Zagats.com
10. OpenTable

With Honorable Mention to:


11. UrbanSpoon
12. DemandForce
13. Kudzu
14. Yellowbot
15. CityVoter
16. DexKnows
17. SuperPages
18. MenuPages
19. LilaGuide
20. Vitals.com

Now why do I write about this topic this week?  Because again I had yet another cosmically poor customer service experience in down town Melbourne. Who was the seller in the tile market in the inner city area will remain with me but suffice to say the message is still far from understood by so many. Word to the wise, understand it now or perish.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.