Psst…Want an extra $338 Billion?
What if I told you I knew where you could find $338.5 billion (yes, with a “b”)? I bet your ears would perk up.
I won’t keep you in suspense: Improve your company’s customer support.
A survey released by Greenfield Online and Ovum in late 2009 entitled “The Cost of Poor Customer Service: The Economic Impact of the Customer Experience and Engagement” revealed that poor customer service cost a total of $338.5 billion per year (more details about the survey can be found here).
To put that in perspective, $338.5 billion is more than the GDP of Poland, Austria, Norway, or even Saudi Arabia!
The losses came from two areas: 63% were transactions taken to a competitor, while 37% were transactions abandoned completely.
The 63% number is interesting in that it matches very closely with the Accenture study (see “Customer Service as a Growth Engine” article) that showed 69% of customers reported switching providers due to poor customer service.
I certainly won’t promise that your company will immediately gain billions in revenue just by increasing your customer service, but my experience has certainly shown a direct correlation between excellent customer service and happy customers, and between happy customers and increased sales.
Go get your share of that $338.5 billion!
- Robert
