Word of mouth on steroids

“They tend to be disparaging of the brands services provided,” says Mike Wronski, MD of Fuseware, a social media agency which conducted the study.

“It’s to be expected that most mentions about big brands will be unfavourable. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore them. Online chat is like word of mouth on steroids.

“The trouble is, brands are not really listening.”

Another problem highlighted in the Accenture Global Consumer Satisfaction Report is that customers don’t often complain about bad service at the point of delivery. Instead, they communicate it later by other means.

The Accenture report found that 68% of respondents reported that little or none of their expectations were met, compared to 26% who did. This is despite broad-based attempts in the corporate world to rectify the matter over the past year, according to Accenture’s head of CRM Nikki Tyrer.

For companies that are trying to improve service but still failing, Tyrer suggests they may be too internally focused. Instead of finding out what out what causes dissatisfaction or is most important to the customer, the focus is on creating solutions first.

She suggests there should be more of an interrogation of how money is spent, and what activities it drives in meeting customers’ needs.

 - Fin24.com