OK I'm using a bit of hyperbole, but....
The folks at TOA Technologies gave me a sneak peak at a study they just released this morning. The 2011 Cost of Waiting report is based on a survey of more than 1,000 Americans who have waited for services in the past year. TOA teamed up with IBOPE Zogby to provide us with some serious food for thought around just how customers view the service they get from vendors, and why they get treated the way they do.
Now the thing that is supposed to grab your attention is the big number - the $37.7B of economic impact the study found making customers wait at home for services is costing us. And that number does a real good job of grabbing you, especially when you bring it down to the individual level, seeing that it costs each man, woman and child in the US $250 annually to wait for customer service.
In fact there are a bunch of numbers that jump at you as you read through the results of the survey, like:
- Americans waited nearly four and a half hours, on average - two hours and 30 minutes longer than expected - for service appointments
- The annual Cost of Waiting per individual is equivalent to removing the average American from the workforce for more than two full days
- 70% of respondents stated that they would recommend a company solely on the fact that an appointment was on time, but that drops by 43% if a service technician is 15 minutes late.
- When a technician is 15 minutes late, customers will start taking action online - after waiting for one hour, almost half of respondents (49%) would have posted a complaint via social media channels
The below graphic gives a great image to the impact waiting has on both customers and vendors. Click on it to see it enlarged:
Oh yeah those surveyed also said on average it costs them $330 annually each time they lose a customer, according to their estimates. And these are just a tip of the iceberg, so I'd suggest you check out the report and really dig in.
Now these numbers paint a picture of just how much we all lose out on when customers are forced to wait for services - companies included as they lose customers and referrals when they make us wait... like the time DirecTV made me wait beyond the time they were supposed to come and install my dish which is the very reason I don't have DirecTV right now...but I digress...
Getting back on track, the most interesting finding for me coming out of the report was the reason customers feel companies make them wait for service - because companies don't care about their time. Yup, the number one response to the question of why it takes so long for company to come fix my cable (or phone, or electricity) is because they just really don't give a damn about my time...ok those exact words weren't used, but you get what I'm saying.
Even if there are valid reasons why it takes soooooo long to get to a customer's home, the perception is there, and it's hard to shake. Because most customers feel like the only thing the company values from them is there money. And by making them wait far passed the expected service time they (um, we) feel this point is reinforced...in concrete...with steel bars...you get the point.
As the study points out the reality of these wait times is costing customers time and money, while the perception of why these wait times exist is costing the company customers - and referrals that come from happy customers. Using social/mobile tools to address both the realities and the perceptions of the cost of waiting should be at the top of every company's agenda. You might not be able to shrink the wait times overnight, but you should be trying to. And while you're trying to do that, you should be using social channels to better communicate what's going on to customers, so they are at least better informed about what's taking place. It would make a big difference to me personally if I can see where my service agent is and where I am in the service queue, because then I can determine if I could run out to the store real quick without missing the guy (or gal). And Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, and text messages can easily make that happen.
Doing a couple of things will help people like me feel like you at least gave even a little damn about my time. And if you go through the details of this report you would see how important that could be to keeping customers on board. Show me you care about my time, and I'll probably keep giving you my money...probably.
Creating better customer experiences and providing better service are keys to building long-lasting relationships with today's social customer. And it takes a social business to create those experiences. But what it really takes is good people who know what they are doing to show up on time and get the job done. Anyway the report has lots of good stuff to check out. Thanks again to TOA for putting it together.