Customerspective

We've Moved!

Our Customerspective Blog is now located at http://www.voxinc.com/blog/

From now on our day-today thoughts on the customer experience will be posted there.

Thanks for reading!

Sound of the Music (Today)

Focus your efforts, resources and capital on acquisition or retention?  That is a critical question in today's B2C business environment and one that we at Vox feel the vast majority of firms answer incorrectly.

New customer acquisition is exponentially more expensive than retaining existing customers, but most business place the utmost importance on acquisition while placing minimal, if any, efforts or focus on retention.  Guess what - not only is it more expensive to acquire new customers today, it is only going to get harder moving forward.

As people are inundated with marketing, messaging and communications from an ever increasing spectrum of sources and channels, we are all becoming attuned to just ignoring the vast majority of messages that "hit us" - just as was the case with the Subway Stradivarius - a perfect example of how people just don't have the time or inclination to care about your messaging or marketing efforts even if you have the best next thing since sliced bread.

You may have the best product or service in the world, but if potential new customers tune you out it means nothing... Wouldn't it be easier and more beneficial to focus your limited resources on the customers who are (for the time being) already listening to you? We think so... Check out our Customer Experience Calculators to see how Acquisition and Retention stack up against one another.

Kicking the Customer Satisfaction Index Up a Notch

There's no other real life indicator of how important customer satisfaction is, than in the hospitality industry.

It's almost guaranteed; a satisfied customer in your restaurant or hotel is likely never to forget the warm, fuzzy and happy feeling that comes with superior customer service - almost always ensuring that 100% customer loyalty that most businesses strive for.

And it is cases like the ones noted in this insightful article by By Bill Huigens of HVS Hotel Management an independent third-party management service company, that make me wonder how such a simple equation can keep businesses wondering where they went wrong.

Who cares about customer satisfaction?

The question might seem glib, but really: who cares about customer satisfaction? As this entry from "Mystery Shopping Matters" blogger David Rich suggests, the concept of determining "satisfaction" is fundamentally flawed - it's hard to conduct; it doesn't endear you to customers; and, it leaves you with ambiguous results, let alone actionable steps to improve things.

Rich's blog cites customer loyalty guru Fred Reicheld and his "Ultimate Question," from the book of the same name. Reicheld believes (like we do) that determining satisfaction has very little to do with a number that really matters - customer retention. He suggests that - in place of long surveys - you ask your customers one simple question: "would you recommend us to your friends?" Reicheld attempts to make a strong correlation between that question and financial growth, with mixed success. His logic, however, is sound: loyalty rather than satisfaction is a stronger indicator of a company's success and growth.

In his blog, David Rich recommends more mystery shopping to determine customer perceptions and experience. We feel that "walking in the customer's shoes" is but one key to truly understanding customer experience. The others are included in our Customerspective Audit. But one thing is certain: customer satisfaction surveys are not "the Ultimate Answer."