Proactive, Reactive Service Makes Customers Happy

The ideas behind proactive customer service are not new, but the ways in which companies can deliver it have transformed the way customers now expect isssues to be resolved.

David Saxby of Measure-X writes about some compelling reasons to consider proactive customer service- .

Only 4 percent of customers complain. Your utility may never hear from 96 percent of its customers and, of those who are unhappy, 92 percent may just quietly go away because they feel complaining will not do them any good. Complainers are more likely to continue doing business with your utility than non-complainers.

Most complainers end up staying with your company. Fifty-four to 70 percent of complainers will do business with you again if you resolve their complaint. Up to 95 percent of these customers will refer new customers.

Customers always have a choice: they can call or not call. If they don’t call, their frustration doesn’t go away. They may just put it “on hold” until something else happens and then they are even more upset. Or they can share their frustration and opinion of your utility with others and in those conversations, you are certain to be the bad guy.

Proactive customer service may come before or after the fact. But proactive service is always about taking action to improve the customer’s experience and outcome. Proactive customer service anticipates the customer’s current and future needs.

Proactive service begins before the customer walks in the door. Proactive service means your utility is already prepared to do everything to satisfy and keep the customer. Review all the activities at your utility and examine how well your employees perform to satisfy customers. Go well beyond just handling complaints, providing refunds and smiling at customers.

Proactive service means going out of your way for the customer. Do everything possible to meet your customers’ needs.

Chat as an interactive medium enables companies to proactively service in a medium that has the same resolution rate as a phone call, but with tremendously lowered costs. Proactive chat gives companies a chance to head off a more expensive phone call, or lost customers by interacting with customer behavior trends in real-time.