An organization should encourage its customers to provide feedback and complaints so that they know when there is a problem and give them the opportunity to solve it. At a time when your business success is based on word of mouth and the need for positive customer experiences, you need to equip yourself and your team with a process for obtaining, listening, Guidewire Claim Center Training responding to, and resolving customer complaints. Customer complaints: They come in the form of an angry email, a scathing online review, an awkward encounter in person, a negative tweet, or an unexpected phone call. It’s hard to hear, but customer complaints are the result of you, your product, your staff, or your service not meeting expectations.
This provides an insightful way to look at outcomes that can help insurance companies prioritize where to focus their customer experience efforts. Quadrant I, which has items with an above-average impact on overall CSAT and below-average item satisfaction (i.e., the greatest chance of improvement), should be prioritized first. Quadrant II items should be put in second place, due to their large impact on satisfaction levels.
What we also found was that satisfaction alone doesn’t necessarily drive business results. The item “the insurance company acted in my best interest” was by far the most important predictor of overall satisfaction. But looking at average current satisfaction levels, it scores much lower than the claims process and knowledgeable representatives. This shows that the things that people are least happy about are sometimes the most important things you need to focus on for future success.
According to one study, even a negative review can cost a business 22% of customers and three negative reviews 59%. A mother’s approval or warning to others about a local store in a local moms group on Facebook can make or break that business. Worse, complaints broadcast on Facebook or Twitter, widely shared to the point that they go viral, and picked up by the media can destroy everything except the too-big companies to fail or at least seriously damage your brand. In this age of social media, good customer service is crucial for the survival of businesses. A complaint provides a company with valuable information about customer expectations and the opportunity to win back a customer, as well as its social network if a good approval comes from the now satisfied customer, otherwise it risks losing much more than just a customer. Customer complaints refer to when a company fails to meet its commitment and does not meet the customer’s expectations regarding the product or service.
As difficult and uncomfortable as they are, handling customer complaints is an important part of doing business and they need to be handled appropriately. Many companies believe that they perform well in this regard, as they have strong first contact resolution scores. (See the “What should you measure?” sidebar.) However, 22% of repeated calls relate to subsequent issues related to the problem that caused the original call, even if that issue itself was addressed correctly the first time. While companies are well equipped to anticipate and “move forward” these issues, they rarely do, usually because they are too focused on managing talk time. Even if your company doesn’t make a mistake, one of your customers will end up encountering a barrier that will lead them to your customer service team.
Despite all the fun ads on TV and the price wars that real estate and accident (P&C) providers are waging to attract new customers, the claims process is one of the most critical experiences a current insured has with an insurance company. It’s a time when customers are vulnerable and looking to the company as a trusted advisor and expert. Depending on how the experience goes, you can create or break up a relationship.
However, most companies have not realized this and are paying dearly in terms of wasted investments and lost customers. Ultimately, not all customer complaints will be resolved to the customer’s satisfaction, and some customers may still leave angrily. However, it is up to you to provide a great experience to reduce these cases where possible. So, in addition to providing a process for handling customer complaints, we wanted to share these tips from Jeremey DuVall, support engineer at WordPress VIP, on how to avoid feeling depressed on days when there’s a lot of negativity in the queue.
You can use negative feedback to correct internal processes and make your customers happy. Your company will be aware of a complaint directly from the customer, in written or oral communication or by making your mark to buy from a competitor due to a negative experience. Complaints often contain hidden opportunities to improve your product or service.
