American customers are facing more product and service problems than ever, and are becoming “steadily more belligerent” while complaining about the issues, according to the results of a new survey.
The latest survey showed that 43 percent raised their voice to express displeasure regarding the problem they were facing, up from 35 percent in 2015. In addition, the percentage of customers seeking revenge for the trouble they faced has tripled since 2010, according to the survey.
The survey was conducted by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting (CCMC) in collaboration with the Center for Services Leadership, a research center within the W. P. Carey School of Business.
It estimated that businesses were risking $887 billion in future revenues due to their mediocre handling of customer complaints, up from $494 billion in 2020.
“Even after 20 years of intensively researching customer rage, I remain astonished that—when sorting out ordinary product and service problems—acts of simple kindness and a sense of kinship are, all too often, in short supply,” said CCMC president and CEO Scott M. Broetzmann.
Uncivil Behavior, Profiting From Customer Complaints
According to the survey, 17 percent of customers have behaved “uncivilly” in the past year. Americans see such aggression toward businesses as “a harbinger of larger societal ills.”Twenty-two percent of respondents pinned the primary blame for rising customer uncivility on “the moral decay of society.”
Fifty percent of Americans were found to view less-aggressive behaviors like ranting, yelling, arguing, social media character assassination, and giving ultimatums as uncivil. For the remaining 50 percent, such behaviors were seen as either “civil” or “depends on the circumstances.”
Moreover, 25 percent found more aggressive behaviors like threats, lying, foul language, and humiliation as “civil or circumstantially acceptable.”
Declining Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction has been on a decline for years, according to data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), which measures how satisfied a consumer is with over 400 companies in 47 industries.For fourth quarter 2022, the ASCI came in at 73.4, which is the ninth straight quarter the index has remained below 74, going back to fourth quarter 2020. The previous time ASCI was below 74 was during fourth quarter 2005.
Only 3 percent of American companies were identified as “customer-obsessed,” meaning they put customers at the center of their leadership, strategy, and planning initiatives. This is a fall of seven percentage points from 2021.
“CX quality in the United States, which reached new heights in 2021, has fallen to pre-pandemic levels due to brands losing their customer focus,” said Rick Parrish, vice president and research director at Forrester.
“This is unfortunate for businesses that survived the worst of the pandemic but are now losing CX-driven customer loyalty gains. For brands to regain CX momentum, leaders will need to refocus their behavior on helping their companies become customer-obsessed.”
“Defusing customer rage is not rocket science. Although many customers are looking for repairs or refunds, they’re also hoping for a sincere apology and acknowledgment of their complaints,” said Thomas Hollmann, executive director of the Center for Services Leadership at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
“These no-cost actions show that the company cares, is listening to the customer, and values them. It’s up to brands to communicate as humans with their customers. A sincere ‘I’m sorry this happened’ can turn a potential blowup into a lifelong customer.
