Why Speed Matters – How quickly customers expect you to respond
I have many interesting conversations with clients around the topic of responsiveness. It has always been a crucial element of service; it is now more critical than ever before. Customers’ expectations are rising and with increases in automation, AI, technology and self-service, our expectations around speed of response have risen like never before.
As a customer you may have had the experience of no response, or a response so slow you felt it was delivered by carrier pigeon. Some clients share with me that they struggle with getting team members to answer the phone, return phone calls, or respond to emails. This is a leadership and cultural issue that must be addressed.
In his new book ‘The Time to Win’ (which I highly recommend and you can read it in 20 minutes) Jay Baer uses his research to explain why speed can be the most important determinant in service. In his words, when a business takes longer than you expect, it feels like they are stealing time from you. And as customers, we interpret speed as caring about us and our issue. He also goes on to explain that speed, or lack of it, creates strong emotions in all human beings.
“Best-in-class brands average 17 emotionally positive experiences for every negative experience, while the lowest-performing brands provided only two emotionally positive experiences for each negative one. Emotion is critical to a brand’s bottom line.”
I have talked for many years in my keynotes and training about the power of customer emotions and how we make people feel. Research from Forester indicates emotion is the key to differentiation. Think about the emotions that are created when service is slower than expected. We feel anger, annoyed, disappointed, frustrated and stressed. If it is about as fast as expected, we may be satisfied, but when service is delivered faster than expected we that is when we experience positive strong emotions, such as feeling delight, valued, and happy. Harvard research found on a lifetime value basis; emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers.
So, what is the average expectation from customers around how quickly an organisation should respond? Baers research found that more than half of customers across all age ranges expect a reply in 4 hours or less using most communication channels (including chat, tone, text, messaging app, social media, email, or contact us forms.)
4 hours.
This requires resources, technology, training and an individual and organisational mindset that recognises how important responsiveness is to a customer. There are four key ways to improve:
1. Set clear expectations
Setting and managing expectations is one of the most important elements of customer service. Be realistic and let the customer know the expected time frame.
2. Acknowledge
If you don’t have the answer immediately, acknowledge the email, phone call or message. This will reduce stress for the customer. Even an auto-acknowledgement provides reassurance an email has been received. Give a time frame for when you will get back to the customer.
3. Keep updated the customer updated and informed
Give the customer regular progress reports and updates. This is where leveraging technology can be useful such as SMS updates or email. If there are unforeseen delays, update them well before the deadline.
4. Create a culture of responsiveness
If there is a culture where phone calls are not picked up and emails are not responded to, this needs to be addressed. As leaders, the behaviour we waIk past is the behaviour we accept. In a commercial environment, poor responsiveness can lead to loss of customers, loss of profit and negative word of mouth/mouse and in the local government, increased complaints, re-work and poor community sentiment.
How would you rate the level of responsiveness to your customers across the organisation? And most importantly, what needs to change?
