When looking at the customer service standards across the UK it’s become apparent there has been a significant drop in the overall satisfaction customers are seeing when visiting retail outlets. The UKCSI Main Report of 2024 shows a drop of 2.4 points from January 2022 to January 2024.
There are several reasons for this significant drop off and at Performance in People this is something we have explored.
Moving The Bar
Rather than looking at the customers experiences as a set of absolute standards it should be looked at as more of a rising set of expectations where the customers are always measuring performance against what it is they have come to expect.
For example, if you walked into a petrol station and they would only take cash, most people wouldn’t be too happy as in the UK we are used to most services being cashless these days.
The reality is that expectations are always on the rise, so companies are being judged on a bar that is always moving. This is why it is so important to get steps ahead of the competition and setting the trend to enhance the customer experience in a new way. Initially when contactless payments became available around 2020 only 7% of the UK used this as their preferred method of payment and in the last 4 years that has now risen to 27% of all payments across the UK. This just shows you how a trend can quickly change the landscape of how we purchase.
Consistency Across All Channels
Not only with the change across customer expectation you now have so many more platforms people are using to communicate with their customer base. Since 2020 there has been an 8% drop in face-to-face interactions whilst there has also been a big increase across all online platforms. With a 3.5% increase in email experiences and all other platforms such as web chat, text and social media posts which has doubled the customer engagement. Having inconsistent levels of service across different communication channels can cause a lot of issues for the customer. If they have received an amazing experience in person but a not so amazing experience on the telephone it will leave a bad lasting impression.
Less Is More
In this current tight economic backdrop companies are under pressure to cut expenses and are trying to protect their profit margins at all costs. The question we ask is how does this impact the customer? When companies make this active decision to cut costs, this can have knock on affect with the customers experience.
The public are really feeling the impact of these disappointments and when you consistently have a bad experience as small as it may be, it leads to an overall disappointing opinion of the company. Some companies are cutting the quality of their products, others the quantity, keeping the same price as before but giving you less for your money.
“You notice they put less crisps in a packet which I think is robbery.” Nasser, aged 52
There are several ways companies will offer a lower quality product hoping to go unnoticed and in recent years you have found companies who have cut corners in manufacturing to save costs. However not only in sizing and quality, you often find surge pricing in bars and restaurants during peak hours to maximise profits.
“When they lower the quality but keep the price the same, I simply stop going there.” Pedro, aged 22
It’s not only the products or the prices themselves that are impacted though, actually the biggest impact people have found is on customer service levels. Most people in the UK state its difficult to get help from, or even get through to customer service departments within the last year.
Prevention vs Cure
We at Performance in People believe you can easily prevent customer dissatisfaction by having systems in place to monitor and analyse your customers experience’s. One of the ways we can offer our clients this insight is by utilising our CX Lab, our dedicated in-house team of CX experts, analysing 1000's of data points from the output of our mystery shopping activities including report data, video footage and call recordings. Using this data, our CX Lab produce unique and industry leading insights to supporting our clients in their mission to continuously improve their customer service proposition.
Managing Behaviours
Another key way you can directly improve your customer journey is by utilising the UK’s Best Customer Experience Measurement. Our award winning Behavioural Measurement Score (BMS ®) can give your company the tools to measure and develop the key behaviours that impact most on the customer experience.
By placing yourself in your customers shoes we can offer you an invaluable perspective that would otherwise not be possible. When using our Video mystery shopping services we conveniently collate all of this information, not only does this give you an understanding of process performance, but you can now objectively measure key behaviours in a short space of time. Utilising our tools you can now make the necessary changes to ensure your company keeps up in this ever evolving landscape.
PiP has been delivering robust mystery shop programmes and training and coaching services for world-class brands for over 20 years. If you would like to find out more, contact us directly.
enquiries@performanceinpeople.co.uk or 01983 568080
