Consistency Across Channels
I recently attended a Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange during which Purdue's Mike Trotter talked about customers' expectations for reaching the companies that serve them. Trotter is the executive director of the university's Center for Customer-Driven Quality. According to Trotter, a recent Purdue study found that 68 percent of customers will not do business with companies that don't offer multiple channel choices for interaction. That's up from 61 percent last year. These customers want access to companies via the Web, via phone, and in person (either at retail or with a salesperson). Easy enough for most firms. The catch is offering consistent service delivery across those channels. "If you don't, you give customers the right to shop [competitors] for answers," Trotter said.
One specific area of challenge that Trotter noted is at retail. In-store staff are often "as dumb as rocks," he said, because they don't have the same Web access to information that customer do. Improving this situation will become increasingly important as today's teens - who routinely combine channels to get what they want - enter the workforce and extend their purchasing power.
But don't rush off to add channels. Only add channels that add value. "Talk to customers and understand their needs first," Trotter said, adding that companies should start by talking to their most profitable customers.
The fact is, building customer relationships across all access points will improve the stickiness of the relationship, and provide value to both customer and company.
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