The Power of Customer Service

As a consumer's experience of customer service is such a powerful determinant of their perceptions of a brand or business, it constantly surprises me how little attention some companies pay to this.

I recently had the misfortune to deal with Energy Australia. I endured long wait times on the phone until I was finally spoken to by a disinterested voice who had no idea what they were talking about. I got cut off half way through the conversation and never got a call back. Every moment of that conversation told me that Energy Australia did not care two hoots about my custom. And if that was the case, then surely they couldn't be trusted to deal honestly with me regarding my energy options?

Completely annoyed, I took to social media to vent my displeasure and here came across a whole host of other annoyed (ex) customers, which reinforced my new perception that Energy Australia was "big energy", out there to squeeze the lifeblood out of consumers and the planet. Despite never having a problem with the actual product I get from them, I vowed to switch suppliers. All because of a couple of poorly trained and disinterested "service" staff.

Now, the truth is I didn't end up switching (yet). So, does consumer service really matter after all then?

Well, yes, because the reason I didn't quit is a result of the excellent customer service I received when I called up again to find out how much it would cost me to switch. (Nothing, as it turns out, because I don't have a contract.) Here I was fortunate enough to deal with someone who knew what he was talking about and happily gave me reams of information, was courteous and respectful and clearly was a happy little Energy Australia employee. Maybe they aren't so bad, I thought to myself. Maybe they are trying their best in a complicated world? But still, my doubt lingers and I am now more open than ever to switching providers. In fact, I find myself noticing advertising from their competitors, which would probably have gone unseen if not for this experience.

I've had the same experience with airlines, swearing blind I would never fly Qantas or Virgin again. Well, I've gone back to Virgin (on price) and been rewarded with a great experience. Qantas doesn't do itself any favours, but that is another story.

In this case it is easy to think that customer service doesn't matter. That in the scheme of things it is the last thing you might want to be considering, because overall perhaps bad customer service is not a key switching criteria. I disagree for a whole host of reasons, but primarily because of the following -

Every time your brand interacts with a consumer, it creates, reinforces or dislodges a perception about your brand. If you spend millions of dollars trying to create a brand which says to consumers, "we get you, people, we understand your needs and we can satisfy them" or "you can trust us with XYZ"... then why not take the time to ensure that message is consistently reinforced with every interaction with consumers - including at a customer service level? Surely that is just smart business sense?

Unfortunately, the bigger issue is that poor customer service is often a indication of poor corporate culture. And a bit of training is never going to solve that particular problem.