by Idit Aloni
Every organization strives to create perfect experiences, putting in place the systems that create the ultimate journey for their customers. However, we all make mistakes and some customers are more lenient than others and care to forgive. Some... just aren’t.
I recently read a report given by the VP of Customer Service at a well-known international airline, which states that due to high customer loyalty most complaints were prefaced with praise for the airline. Customers generally stated that they would always choose to fly this airline before getting to the crux of the complaint. Showing once again that you cannot place a high enough value on your customer loyalty. That is why the Temkin Forgiveness Rating system is so useful. Running now for its fifth year, it uses feedback from 10,000 U.S. consumers to rate the level of forgiveness earned by 293 organizations across 20 industries. It would be interesting to see how the airline mentioned above would rate on the Temkin Forgiveness Rating system, given that airlines in general rate below average with only 30% in the 2015 Temkin Forgiveness Rating report. It is remarkable to see that this year only 13% of companies earned a “very strong” Temkin Forgiveness Rating (above 45%). With a score of 47%, supermarket chains were the only industry to earn a “very strong” average Forgiveness Rating. Seven other industries earned a “good” Forgiveness average: retailers, computer & tablet makers, parcel delivery services, fast food chains, auto dealers, major appliances, and banks. By following our 3 point strategy, we believe you can create the perfect end-to-end customer experience. Always know your customer – get ahead of the competition by always knowing what your customers want and need and then what to do about it. Act in real time – don’t miss the opportunity to make something right by delaying, take the right actions and provide the right service in real time. Finally, optimize the customer journey – by training your employees and keeping them fully engaged you can ensure that negative experiences aren’t repeated and keep your customers happy.
Remember, happy customers are loyal customers, loyal customers are forgiving customers.
Idit Aloni Idit Aloni is a passionate Customer Experience professional who enjoy spreading CX gospel on social media channels. Idit has spent the last decade consulting and leading CX initiatives in large organizations in Israel and at Vodafone New Zealand. As she works with industry influencers, her passion is finding new ways to build exceptional Customer and Employee Experiences.