Service Management Group (SMG) conducted a study on 359,000 customers in the UK and found that the top cause of unhappiness is lack of staff assistance (27%), followed by slow service at the checkout (22%), and unavailability of an item (20%). Unfriendly employees (12%), problem occurrence (9%), and limited item selection (9%) came at the bottom three.
According to SMG consumer insight specialist Jeremy Michael, businesses need to address these issues by focusing on customer experience in their strategies and delivering high levels of service. This will help them stand out from competition and meet the evolving expectations of their customers.
How to increase customer satisfaction
In a related study, analytics firm CFI Group has identified the top drivers of customer satisfaction in retail and suggested the following course of action for retail businesses.
First, retailers should set the right prices for their merchandise. Second, they should continuously train their associates to create a better environment and deliver good customer service and assistance. Third, retailers are encouraged to keep all channels of communication accessible to let customers approach in the manner they prefer. Lastly, they should measure customer satisfaction to gain insights necessary for improving performance.
Today, with the stiff competition and abundance of business options available for customers, retailers need to be knowledgeable about what makes their customer tick. For this reason, they need to know what makes customers happy or unhappy and then transform their business into something that customers will appreciate and patronize.
Encourage customers to return to your business by outsourcing your customer service to Open Access BPO. Know more about our customer service solutions on our website or Google+ page.
