Study: No one wants to deal with customer service reps anymore

An eye-opening study says consumers are more and more frustrated by the most traditional customer service channel we use – the phone. When I need the most help from a company, the phone is the first place I turn. I want to talk to a real, live, breathing human being.

Admittedly, it can be frustrating. But there are companies that are doing it well — even better than well — and other companies large and small should take a lesson.

I recently moved all of my prescriptions to PillPack. Yep, that’s an online pharmacy. No more waiting in line at the grocery store for me! My prescriptions are shipped right to my doorstep every two weeks on the dot. The folks at PillPack took care of the transfer from my old pharmacy. They contact my doctor for refills when it’s time to do so. They even sent a hand-written note with my very first delivery, welcoming me to their service. It was signed by a real, live, breathing human being.

I wish I could say that customer service experiences like the ones I regularly encounter with PillPack are the norm, but we all know they’re not. By embracing three very simply concepts, your company can be on its way to providing a greater level of customer service – whether on the phone, web chat or even social media.

1. Every employee has a name. Let them use it. Empower your employees to stand behind the service they provide. Give your employees all the training and knowledge and information that they need to do their jobs and do them well. Then trust them to represent your company and take care of your customers. I would rather interact with Joe at Random Big Store Downtown than some nameless, faceless representation of the organization.
2. Every interaction is personal to that one customer. Although your employees may answer the same question or complaint 10 times a day, it has taken your customer time and energy to pick up the phone and call with their one question. Encourage your employees to be patient, empathetic and appreciative of every customer call.
3. Don’t make your customers jump through hoops. As I mentioned with the PillPack.com example above, I reached out to become a customer, and they did the rest for me. They did the heavy lifting for me and made it easy for me to become a very loyal customer. What are you doing to make it easy for your customers to stay with you?

And you might not believe this, but about a month after my first prescription delivery, a real person from PillPack reached out to check in on me. Did I have any questions? Have my deliveries come on time? Was there anything else that I needed from her while I had her on the phone? This place takes customer service way beyond simply answering an incoming call.

You could lose half of your customers.

According to an Aspect and Conversion Research survey mentioned in the eMarketer article, “more than half of US internet users have stopped doing business with a general retail company due to poor customer service.” Stopped doing business.

If you can’t afford to lose half of your customer base, it’s time to take customer service seriously and personally.

This story was first published in March, 2016.