Customer experience key to driving business growth

Customer experience key to driving business growth

A new Colmar Brunton survey shows how Kiwis respond to good and bad customer experiences and reveals why delivering great customer experiences is the key to business growth.

Results of the company’s most recent research into Kiwi customer experiences have been released this week, ahead of a ‘Grow’ seminar which aims to shed light on delivering world-class customer experiences that will power businesses to the top.

Colmar Brunton CEO Jacqueline Ireland says New Zealand businesses must focus on the customer experiences they deliver because of how customers react to their experiences – good and bad – and the influence that has on business growth.

“Our survey shows that most Kiwis take action as a direct result of customer experiences. The first response is to tell others about their experience and then they look at changing their behaviour,” Ms Ireland says.

The survey asked 1000 New Zealanders about their good and bad customer experiences.

Results showed that more people (70%) told others about their good experiences than shared their bad experiences (58%). But it is those with a bad experience to report who tell more people about them.

Forty-one per cent of those surveyed told 11 or more people about their bad experiences compared to only15% who told at least 11 people about their positive experiences.

Survey respondents almost all shared their good and bad customer experiences with others in person but those who are subject to bad experiences are most likely to pick up the phone (41%) or post on Facebook (20%) to tell others. By comparison only 25% of those who shared good experiences used the phone and 13% posted on Facebook.

Of those surveyed who had a particularly good experience, 51% chose to make that company their first choice provider while 28% became less interested in the competition. On the other hand 35% of those who had a very negative experience started looking for an alternative provider and a further 30% became more interested in hearing from competitors.

Great service (for 37% of those surveyed) and helpfulness (21%) were highlighted as the overwhelming reasons behind a good customer experience, ahead of price (18%). Poor customer service was the biggest turn off (43%) with long waiting times (16%) and poor communication or lack of follow up (14%) also contributing to bad experiences.

Ms Ireland says the survey underlines the critical role the customer experience plays in business and next week’s ‘Grow’ seminar has been developed to deliver deeper insights into the customer experience.

“We are a passionate advocate for the voice of the customer to drive business growth and success,” she says.

“We want to share our insights on how to identify the types of experiences customers want, creating ideal customer experiences, empowering staff to deliver them, measuring their effectiveness and using the information to drive business success.”

Guest speakers at the ‘Grow’ seminar include Mike O’Sullivan (Executive Director BrandWorld), Stuart Sinclair (Co-owner David Forman) and Dick Brunton (Founder of Colmar Brunton).

For further information on the ‘Grow’ seminar and to reserve tickets visit www.colmarbrunton.co.nz.

ENDS

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