How customer feedback builds valuable brand trust
To be a trusted brand is the holy grail of the brand manager. Consumer trust creates significant benefits – from repeat purchasers to customer advocacy, from price protection to more effective employee recruitment. But trust is hard-earned. Three of the top five most valuable global brands in Interbrand’s annual list are over 100 years old - Coca Cola, IBM and GE. (The other two, Google and Microsoft, have benefited from a sector that has rushed to prominence in the last 30 years.)
These top brands have achieved their trusted status by observing 5 basic rules:
1. Keep (or exceed) your promises. A brand guarantees a certain level of performance from its product or service. If it does not live up to its promise it has no right to be trusted
2. Pursue authenticity. Consumers need their chosen brand to be and act like the genuine article. In times of recession there will be an inevitable short term drift to economy brands (Poundland) but those that can stick by the brands that display authenticity (John Lewis).
3. Recognise the vital role of your employees. Your staff are as much your brand as your product; coaching, training and supporting them to ensure they are fully on brand is an essential investment.
4. Nurture brand advocacy. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising –14% of us trust advertising, while 78% say they trust their peers.
5. Cherish all your customers. Offering deals to new customers that are not available to existing customers will justifiably undo any trust you have built up.
One way to make customers feel valued is to seek their opinion (we are all flattered to be asked what we think). Trusted brands will invite feedback both positive and negative (Bill Gates knew that: “your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”); and with the tools now available any company can build an extensive and effective customer feedback programme. Customer experience measurement companies like ServiceTick offer a single ‘voice of the customer hub that gathers and analyses in real time feedback from call centres, web and branch.
But listening to customers is of no value unless you are prepared to act on what they have to say. And acting on feedback can build trust in very specific ways:
• Turning brand ‘antis’ into brand advocates - Tools like ServiceTick can automatically alert you to dissatisfied customers by identifying key words in IVR or email surveys. ServiceTick has found that levels of brand loyalty and advocacy will increase by a multiple of at least three times with customers whose complaints are responded to swiftly.
• Improving first call resolution (FCR) - improvements in FCR generate reduced costs and improved customer satisfaction. Many ServiceTick clients use IVR surveys to determine FCR levels by asking the caller if they felt their issue had been resolved. Within the call centre itself resolution failure rates can be traced back to individual call agents, identifying training and coaching requirements within each team.
• Get under the skin of CSAT and Net Promoter Scores - CSAT and NPS are effective measurement tools but sometimes you need to know why people score you as they do. By asking callers: “What single thing did we do to make you rate us in this way?” responses become more easily grouped, less ambiguous and therefore easier to act on.
• Creating visible peer endorsement - brands are increasingly judged by their level of transparency. Trusted brands have the confidence to share positive and negative feedback not just with staff but with their customers and prospects. For brands proud of their service record it can be great publicity and a real motivation to staff.
Ultimately trust is built on the back of a relationship between brand and consumer; smart brands understand that by listening to customers they can earn that trust.
Posted: 04 July 2011