Services - Customer Dimensions

The Customer Loyalty Challenge

Most customers will not tell you how they really feel about your products and services to your face. So how do you know what they are thinking, and if they will return?

Customer satisfaction & Loyalty is as much of a managerial art as a science, because of the profitability tradeoffs it poses. Customers demand performance, high quality, fast service and a highly trained and knowledgeable staff, all the while insisting on superior value. Despite these dilemmas, the research is in. Superior customer service can be a viable source of sustainable competitive advantage.

View the PDi Customer Loyalty Model

Why So Important?

It is far less expensive to retain existing customers than to attract new ones. Advertising expenses for new customers, and the costs of losing old customers, make customer satisfaction a critical success factor for many businesses. Losing a customer not only forfeits the lifetime value of that customer's business; it also poisons potential business with an estimated 2% of future customers, who hear negative "word-of-mouth".

Each dissatisfied customer eventually tells over 10 people about the bad experience).

For this reason, "defensive marketing" and "service recovery and customer retention programs" have become increasingly popular with PDi clients- with good cause. Empirical research in this area finds the costs associated with keeping customers are much less than the costs associated with losing them.

Beyond the nearly ubiquitous expectation for basic customer satisfaction lies the gold standard - customer loyalty. Just as the importance of having a stable base of repeat customers can hardly be underestimated, so is the difficulty of learning how to retain demanding customers. So how does a business build customer loyalty?

1. Customer Feedback. Before you can understand how your organization is satisfying or frustrating customers, you need to listen to your customers. Unfortunately, holding interviews and focus groups with major customers is quite time consuming, and PDi can help. Beyond major customers lie scores of smaller customers, who can be contacted through the mail, over the internet or by phone. As long as the survey questions are well-written, and do not miss important areas, they can yield valuable insights. PDi can help here, as well, with pre-validated questions on a wide variety of customer behaviors and attitudes.

2. Problem Resolution Processes. Market researchers have discovered that properly handled complaints mitigate negative word-of-mouth. Everyone knows that problems with products or services are unavoidable. Consequently, quickly responding to, and satisfactorily resolving, customer complaints can both increase loyalty and minimize the costs of losing customers. So are you handling problems well? As an independent, external firm, PDi can offer employees and customers the guarantees of confidentiality and objectivity they need to be candid and open with their feedback - to tell it like it is.

3. Distinctive Competence through Customers. Is good performance good enough? While customers are often satisfied with good performance, loyalty requires something more. Unfortunately, that something more is relative - something above and beyond what customers would normally expect from the typical offerings in your industry. If they look around and conclude that you are providing superior customer service in some area they value (performance, service, speed, quality, etc.), they tend to stick with you over time. The first question becomes, how are you perceived? What do customers expect from the "average" product / service provider, and how do you rate in comparison? The second question becomes, what do they really care about? Are you being distinctive in areas most of your customers value highly? PDi can help. Successful companies must know how they rate. PDi has the resources to get you there.

PDi Customer Surveys© provide powerful, customer-ready survey solutions. We give your company the Valid and Reliable survey data and information required to make better customer product and service decisions. PDi connects your company to information and insights that will add value to customer relationships. We provide you with user friendly customer data and information quickly, accurately, and thoroughly, all of which keeps current customers satisfied, loyal, and brings new customers. We offer a comprehensive and detailed survey and consulting approach that helps you retain more loyal customers. Our PDi customer survey solutions both measure and support your business, while making customer relationships easier to develop and manage. You spend more time focusing your improvement efforts. That is the direct road to customer satisfaction. That is straightforward.

PDi provides your company with a customer survey process that has taken its place on some key measures. We've been recognized by our customers and our high standards have been noted. At PDi, we know that customer products and service quality makes the difference between like (satisfaction) or love (loyalty). It's why we are committed to delivering customized high quality customer surveys. Your products, services and customers deserve the best.

At PDi we continuously focus our survey and consulting efforts on contributing to and learning from customers. This provides us with the foundation to build relevant insights and thoughtful guidance, especially, in an ever changing marketplace. The balancing act of reacting to changing customer demands and proactively anticipating future customer requirements is key. Working closely with you, PDi will help your company discover your changing balance point. Together we will achieve positive customer results.