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Indians continue to be the most digital savvy for reporting/resolving service experiences with companies compared to their Asian counterparts. They have taken to social media as a common channel for seeking customer service response.
This has emerged from the 2015 edition of the annual American Express Global Customer Service Barometer (CSB).
The CSB help bring meaningful insights about consumer perspectives on customer service and what they expect from organisations in terms of service delivery.
This year the CSB research was completed online among a random sample of consumers aged 18+ in 3 countries including India, Hong Kong, and Japan with a sample size of 1000 respondents in each country.
The latest CSB revealed increased use of social media by Indians for seeking customer service response.
Seven in ten (71%) consumers in India have utilised social media at least once in the past one year to get customer service response, the same as last year and up significantly from 54 per cent in 2012.
This is more than twice that of Japan (29%) and ahead of Hong Kong (50%).
Top five reasons for which Indian consumers use social media on customer service are sharing information about service experiences (56 per cent); Asking others about how to get better service (50 per cent); praising a company for great service experience (47percent); seek an actual response from a company about a service issue (47 per cent) and seek recommendations from.
Nearly nine-in-ten consumers in India (88%) feel companies have improved their response times over social media channels and four-in-ten (41%) consumers who have used social media for customer service inquiries say they always get an answer or have their complaint resolved
Pradeep Kapur, Senior Vice President & GM, World Service, Asia Pacific & Head - Global Process Excellence, American Express said the insights of American Express Customer Service Barometer clearly state the growing strategic significance of customer service.
"We try to make every interaction an opportunity to deepen the relationship with the customer. That’s what our Relationship Care® brand of service is all about. Relationship Care doesn’t start when the phone rings. It means understanding your customers’ preferences and enabling them to connect with your company in ways that are most relevant and convenient for them so they can resolve their queries", Kapur said.
The other key findings of CSB are that businesses in India can reap the most rewards by providing excellent service.
Nearly nine-in-ten Indian customers are willing to spend more (average 22 per cent) for better service as against 55 per cent willing to spend 10 per cent more in Japan and 65 per cent willing to spend 12 per cent in Hong Kong.
Srivats.Kr@thehindu.co.in
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