Customer Service: Fluid in Character but Consistent in Importance
Customer service has been seen consistently as an important factor to both consumers and opinion-leaders when making their judgements and decisions about companies in the UK Financial Services industry. Survey data collected by Ipsos demonstrates that 89% of Personal Finance Journalists consider it ‘important’ when making judgements about a company, while 82% of Business & Finance Journalists think the samei. Looking back over the past few years shows little change in terms of the importance of customer service to journalists when making judgements about companies. Despite a turbulent period for the financial services industry, the story is a relatively consistent one.
So while the importance of customer service is a self-evident point, the complication is found more in differential understandings of what ‘customer service’ actually means among those receiving and those delivering it. The consistency of its importance against the backdrop of a changing market suggests there could be little more to say. While the topic has been a consistent one, the conversation is more fluid and harder to grasp. Customer service is important to consumers; that much is given. What this obscures is the granularity of the topic itself: which aspects of customer service are important, and what ‘customer service’ actually means. It is in this context that financial service providers struggle to deliver against transient consumer expectations of what constitutes ‘good’ customer service. A Which? survey run among customers of 12 UK banks showed 25% claimed to have experienced problems with their current account in the past twelve months, with the predominate reason given as poor customer service/problem resolution ii.
Not only has it become difficult to define what customer service means, but with the advent of new channels through which consumers can contact their provider, the idea of a single set of standards by which ‘customer service’ can be judged and to which it should live up to is becoming more of an abstract concept. ‘Customer service’ is perhaps better considered as a plurality of consumer needs and expectations, and the response of financial service providers to meet them. Part of the problem lies in two interrelated and changing factors: new and evolving service delivery channels, and a shifting set of customer needs and expectations that come with this. While age and other demographic factors continue to play a role, service delivery channels are changing with a continued shift towards online and, increasingly, mobile. With the shift away from ‘direct service’ channels, how can financial service providers ensure the level of customer service being delivered is consistent and in-line with customer expectations? As it becomes harder to state definitively what defines customer service, it becomes more difficult to define what constitutes ‘good’ customer service.
The environment in which consumers can develop informed opinions about providers’ customer service is also undergoing change with the rise of comparison websites and peer-moderated forums of discussion. With the steady ascent of new sources of information for consumers about how providers perform across the board – not just on the rate and promise elements they choose to make public in their above-the-line advertising – customers have, if not necessarily more choice, then a more informed framework in which to make their choice. In a peer-moderated environment, consumers are able to get a wider impression of the type of service others have enjoyed (or endured) with a particular provider before making their own choice. Reputation for good or bad customer service can effect not just the retention of existing customers, but more so than ever the acquisition of new ones. Chief Financial Ombudsman Natalie Ceeny told the BBC earlier this month "We have seen a much stronger consumer voice in the last year, with people becoming more aware of their rights and less willing to put up with poor customer service."
Customer service has always been important in the financial services industry, and will always continue to be. The context and framework of the conversation is changing, and the industry has to be both pro-active and reactive in its service delivery, recognising that customer service is not just a cost, but also a differentiating brand attribute. With the ascent of peer-driven sources of consumer-oriented information, financial service providers need, more than ever, to listen to their customers: not just their complaints, but the expectations they believe their provider should meet.
Notes
[i] Personal Finance Journalists – Based on 194 UK Personal Finance Journalists surveyed in March 2013 who responded ‘Very’ or ‘Fairly’ Important when asked “How important are each of the following factors when you judge a company or organisation (Customer service/treatment of customers)”. Business & Finance Journalists – Based on 84 UK Business & Finance Journalists surveyed in November 2012 who responded ‘Very’ or ‘Fairly’ Important when asked “How important are each of the following factors when you judge a company or organisation (Customer service/treatment of customers)”.
[ii] Based on a survey of 2,029 UK adults conducted by Populus on behalf of Which? in February 2013. Data is weighted to be representative of UK adults, and all respondent held a UK current account.
