A friendly smile. A welcoming voice over the phone. Someone who makes an extra effort to make sure you are pleased. These things matter in customer experience, but since many of these “little things” are in the eye of the beholder, it is difficult to know just how much impact they have. Did you know there is one simple thing you can do that will improve your customer experience score?
Several years ago, an OEM client mentioned that merely getting their dealers to follow-up on a service would improve how customers viewed their overall experience. This comment has stuck with me, and now we have enough data at The Daniel Group to confirm his point. A post-service contact (typically a call) does actually improve the service experience.
In this situation, the information is based on our work with a large agricultural equipment OEM. They are selling through a network of dealers throughout North America.
We conduct follow-up surveys (phone) when a new product is delivered and following a warranty experience. Here are the results:
Product Delivery (NPS®)
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Warranty Service (NPS)
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A simple phone call just to make sure the customer is happy with the product or is satisfied with the warranty repair work makes a significant difference in NPS. Why does this matter?
Consider another fact. On both the product delivery and warranty surveys, we are asking customers if they have referred the dealer to someone else in the last six months.
We find high rates of referral on both surveys (yes, even if it is warranty) but consider the purchase experience.
- About 46% of customers interviewed indicated they gave a referral over the past six months (over an almost four-year period).
- Promoter customers (those who gave a 9 or 10 on the likelihood to recommend question) provided 92% of those referrals.
A simple thing like a follow-up call has a significant impact on NPS, which results in increased referrals. It means your customers are doing part of your marketing work.
Little things do have a significant impact!
Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.
