The Forgiving Consumer

  I was not going to write a post today but I noticed something that got me thinking about how forgiving customers can be.  First let me say that I am an Amazon.com junkie.  When you are a busy professional married to a busy professional, leisure time is rare and jealously guarded.  So when I can buy anything and everything (including diapers) from Amazon - get free shipping (Prime baby!) and know that they stand behind everything they sell with great service, then you get to know your UPS guy/gal pretty well.

  The other thing I love about Amazon are the product reviews.  I find them to be generally reliable and sometimes very entertaining too (see AutoExec Wheelmate).  Because I buy from them a lot (I can't overstate that) Amazon sends me emails several times a day.  They know that I have been shopping for a portable Bluetooth speaker for my office and so they sent me an email yesterday as part of their Marketplace deal-of-the-day, tailored just for me, the Oontz XL from Cambridge Audioworks.

  I began reading reviews and this review jumped out at me.

 
   Wow.  This customer (JerryD) gave Cambridge Soundworks three opportunities to satisfy him for one reason: they have him great customer service.  Not only does this review make me want to reward this company with my business but it reminds me that customers are not as fickle as we might think.  The 2013 Temkin Forgiveness Rating show that companies with stellar customer service can weather a mistake or bad experience better than 50% of the time.  USAA has always been a powerhouse of customer service and 60% of respondents stated that they would be willing to forgive a mistake by them.  Retailers also score well on this report with Amazon (no surprise here) scoring very high among their customers.  Some industries have a much more fickle customer base.  Television and Internet service providers have the least forgiving customer base.

  What seems clear from the Temkins report is that good or bad, the experience you create for your customer has a lasting effect.  Companies (and industries) that have a track record of good customer service tend to earn forgiveness from their customers while industries that have a reputation for bad customer service (remember waiting 6 hours for your cable installer to arrive?) are not likely to get a second chance.  In fairness to television and internet service providers, forgiveness is probably much more difficult in their market where jumping service providers is so easy.  But the retail customer base is even less captive and that industry ranks much better.

  As a consumer I want to like the company I buy from.  When I purchase their product I want to feel that I am appreciated for my business and if so, I will reward that company with more business, even at a slightly higher price.  As the Cambridge Audioworks review shows, consumers are willing to forgive some pretty grave mistakes if they believe the company is truly interested in making things right.