"Our Take" - Customer Tipping Points

(Past Editions by: Date, Title, Topic)

 
About "Our Take" 
"Our Take" is a collection of daily vignettes covering a wide range of CRM topics. It's an attempt to add our own spin to the world of CRM. We will use the column to share our perspectives, opinions, epiphanies, web nuggets, or quite frankly anything that moves us. Get ready to expect the unexpected. And, don't be shy about sharing your thoughts.
 
 
4/30/07 - Your Tipping Point
Last time, I asked, "Is satisfied good enough?" Based on research, customers that say they are "completely satisfied" are six times more likely to buy again than customers that say they are merely "satisfied."
 
Satisfied customers are good. But is that good enough? No! Satisfied customers defect and go to the competition and that churn is costing your organization a tremendous amount of money. So what is the difference between a satisfied customer and a completely satisfied customer? What is the tipping point when a customer becomes six times more likely to buy from you again?
 
Of course, the answer to that question is different for most organizations. But there is an answer. Have the powers that be (that means you) asked that question within your organization? If so, does everyone know that answer and is everyone doing everything possible to make that answer a reality for your important customers? Why or why not?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/1/07 - Not Everyone Has the Same Tipping Point
Going from good to great doesn't make a small difference. It makes a big difference. As reported in this column, "completely satisfied" customers are six times more likely to buy again than merely "satisfied" customers. And yesterday, I suggested that there is a tipping point at which customers go from being satisfied to completely satisfied.
 
What is that tipping point? It is something different for each company. But a particular business might also find that different customer segments have different tipping points. Specifically, there are some customers that only require a little more. Other customers might require a lot more. And alas, there are those customers that will never be completely satisfied.
 
So while I challenge you to find your own tipping points, it is also important to map those tipping points to your different customer segments. The investment to improve must be weighed against the size and value of the customer segments you want to move from "satisfied" to "completely satisfied." Do you agree?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/2/07 - Universal Tipping Point
Yesterday, I suggested that each business has its own "tipping point." In the context of the discussion, a tipping point is what an organization needs to do to move customers from a feeling of being merely "satisfied" to "completely satisfied." Why is this important? Research suggests that completely satisfied customers are six times more likely to buy again than satisfied customers.
 
Indeed, not every customer's satisfaction level will move up the value chain by the same stimulus. So the secret is to figure out what tipping points work for what customers. While there may not be a universal tipping point, we do know that loyalty levels often advance more when a bad customer situation is handled efficiently and effectively than if nothing had ever gone wrong.
 
One reader wrote, "Interestingly, Ron Zemke’s original research showed that the tipping point is very often a seller problem that disappoints the customer - followed by a great recovery. Being prepared to jump all over problems and correct them in spades is among the best ways to generate fanatical loyalty." Do you think the "rebound and subsequent layup" is better than the planned three point shot?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/7/07 - More Thoughts on Tipping Points
I received responses from some readers offering that the front line customer service person is the most important "tipping point" moving a customer from merely "satisfied" to "completely satisfied." Just for review, we are working from research that says completely satisfied customers are six times more likely to buy again than satisfied customers. So understanding what it takes to move someone from a "4" to a "5" on a customer satisfaction survey can be profound.
 
In some organizations, the customer service person is the primary if not exclusive factor determining satisfaction, while other businesses see a contributory but not primary influence. In some businesses, the customer service person may not even be an involved factor on creating that elusive "tipping point."
 
Regardless of where your business fits on the spectrum, I would like to offer to you a question to ponder. What is the ranked order of the top three factors that can move customers from satisfied to completely satisfied? Please take a moment to tell me what factors besides the customer service person have the most profound impact on your tipping points.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/8/07 - Creating Your Tipping Point
Yesterday, I suggested that most organizations need look no further than their customer service people to find the number one way to move a customer from a feeling of being merely satisfied to completely satisfied. Even if the customer service people are not number one, they are probably in the top three for the majority of businesses. I then asked about other factors important to create tipping points. Let me share a few with you today.
 
Many of you wrote about the importance of a good, competitive product. Indeed, it often takes a disproportionate amount of customer service attention to compensate for an inferior or overly expensive product. In some cases, no amount of tender loving care replaces a product that simply doesn't work. Others wrote about the importance of communication. It needs to be open and honest. Put a different way, setting expectations on what you can and will deliver can determine from the beginning the likelihood of customer satisfaction versus customer delight.
 
Often satisfaction is determined by what the customer expected versus what was actually delivered. If you are not setting those expectations, you are leaving it up to external factors to set expectations. In addition, you have little visibility to what those expectations might be. It's somewhat like getting a "C" but not know what the professor used for a grading scale. Do you agree?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/9/07 - Value of the Surprise
Let's continue our discussion on tipping points - those actions that can move a happy customer to a delighted customer. Why are delighted customers more important than merely happy ones? Loyalty leads to more revenue and more profits.
 
One reader responded with thoughts from Noraiki Kano who makes a distinction between meeting customer expectations and creating delight. The reader writes, "Offering more, as the name implies, will have a linear effect on customer satisfaction The more you provide, the happier the customer becomes. The 'delighters' or those actions they do not anticipate from you are the real movers for loyalty. If the level of response was unanticipated and exceeds the customer’s own thoughts/experiences for that given situation, you create a delighted customer and loyalty surely improves."
 
Those thoughts tie quite nicely with the ideas offered yesterday that it is important to understand what the customer expects. Only when you have that understanding on a customer-by-customer basis are you truly in a position to knowingly make the move from the expected to the loyalty-creating surprise. Do you agree?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)