Page 215 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management

Notes The off-shoring issue is more complex. To be fair, it’s not clear whether customers would be
willing to pay more for experiences that did not include an off-shore call centre. In this respect,
it’s “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” for companies that attempt to cut costs but can’t
do so without some change in quality of service, even if the “quality” is a perception based on
a different accent. Customers want lower-cost goods and services, hence the rise in Wal-Mart
and other discounters, but don’t always like the trade-off when it affects local jobs or service
quality.
Some companies are taking a more cautious approach to off-shoring, worried that cost savings
may be offset by customer experience deterioration. Dell, for example, decided in 2004 to bring
back to the United States some of its call-centre operations, after concerns surfaced about service
quality.

Emotions Make Experiences Memorable

Some experts say that CEM is all about creating an exemplary experience, what many call
“customer delight” or a “wow” experience. Carlzon, the former Scandinavian Airlines CEO, in
an Inside Scoop interview for CRMGuru tells the story of the tour operating company in which
he began his career. The company liked to surprise customers by putting baskets of fruit or a
bottle of wine and a hand-written card in guests’ rooms at their travel destinations. “Everybody
got extremely happy, because nobody expected it and they all thought it was a kind of individual
service to them,” Carlzon said.

The value of booking for the tour company increased because of the guests’ perception that they
were getting something special. Unfortunately, an enterprising advertising manager burst the
balloon by amending the company’s brochures to tell people they would be getting a “surprise”
of a bottle of wine in the room. Setting this expectation eliminated the surprise and, worse,
turned the positive experience into a negative one when the gift was forgotten.

Emotional Glue

Without emotion, we wouldn’t remember much of anything. Think about your strongest
memories. They probably include either very pleasant or awful experiences. The same goes
with customer experiences. In CRMGuru’s online research, we asked respondent for input on a
recent “memorable” experience. It might be surprising to learn that it doesn’t take a lot to please
or annoy customers. Sure, when your people go the extra mile for customers, they’re very
impressed. But often, customers just want to get what they ordered and to be treated decently.
Amazon.com’s most popular link is “Where’s My Stuff?” One happy online shopper put it this
way: “Amazon is easy. A child could use it. Online ordering is practically two clicks.”
Earlier, we stated that the “quality of service/support processes” was ranked fourth out of five
activities in earning a customer’s loyalty. Yet, when we asked respondents for input on a recent
“memorable” experience, 35 percent of the responses included service and support activities.
Sales activities (15 percent), purchasing process (19 percent) and use of product/service (20
percent) ranked lower. Clearly, how a problem is resolved creates a strong emotion and lasting
impression.
For highly loyal customers (“promoters”), approximately 80 percent to 90 percent of respondents
said a memorable experience left them feeling positive emotions like “pleased,” “comfortable”
and “appreciated. Customers with little loyalty (“detractors”) felt “frustrated,” “let down” and
“angry.”

210 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY