{"id":118271,"date":"2017-09-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/?post_type=blog&p=118271"},"modified":"2021-03-07T17:08:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T01:08:30","slug":"can-poor-customer-service-cause-the-demise-of-an-entire-industry","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/blog\/post\/can-poor-customer-service-cause-the-demise-of-an-entire-industry","title":{"rendered":"Can poor customer service cause the demise of an entire industry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section full_width=”stretch_row”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Recently, I decided to end a contract with a company whose services I have used for many years (I won\u2019t name them here). I was receiving great service from them for a long time, until something went wrong and I needed them to step up to their obligations.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the public deserves better! Everyone\u2019s talking about digital transformation, but at the centre of everything is one thing \u2013 our pursuit to understand the customer. This was summed up perfectly by a post that did the rounds on LinkedIn recently:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Amazon did not kill the retail industry. They did it to themselves with bad customer service.<\/em><\/p>\n

Netflix did not kill Blockbuster. They did it to themselves with ridiculous late fees.<\/em><\/p>\n

Uber did not kill the taxi business. They did it to themselves with limited the number of taxis and fare control.<\/em><\/p>\n

Apple did not kill the music industry. They did it to themselves by forcing people to buy full-length albums.<\/em><\/p>\n

Airbnb did not kill the hotel industry. They did it to themselves with limited availability and pricing options.<\/em><\/p>\n

Technology by itself is not the real disruptor. Being non-customer centric is the biggest threat to any business.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While there is some debate about these assertions, the general theme is spot on and the last line really does sum up what many businesses are getting wrong today:<\/p>\n

Every business needs to constantly re-evaluate how customer centric it is.\u00a0 Even ourselves in Genesys \u2013 Amazon has entered our market now.\u00a0 If we remain customer centric, Amazon may challenge us but we will continue to thrive.<\/p>\n

In my case, my supplier was not customer centric in a couple of key ways:<\/p>\n

They did not keep a promise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They promised to call me back on a certain phone number at a certain time.\u00a0 They did not.<\/p>\n

Their chat and voice teams are not connected<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When I contacted them via chat to ask what happened by callback, they admitted the error but were not able to re-arrange another call back because \u201cI\u2019m in the chat team; I cannot arrange call backs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Both of these are easily solved by technology today.\u00a0 Digital brands do it by default \u2013 all brands need to ensure these basic customer-centric needs are met.<\/p>\n

I will say that this was not a digitally-born company.\u00a0 Companies born in the digital age have a different DNA than companies that have been around a lot longer.\u00a0 Their DNA is digital, easy, and frictionless.\u00a0 However, brands that pre-date the digital age have a much greater advantage that they squander by not getting the basics right.<\/p>\n

Businesses are under constant pressure to innovate and differentiate with digital technology.\u00a0 However, consumers just want brands to answer their questions in the easiest and least effort way possible; no matter how they ask it.<\/p>\n

I believe the solution is omnichannel and a focus on personalised customer journeys.<\/p>\n

By personalising the retail experience<\/a> and predicting its customers\u2019 needs and desires, while curating the shopper\u2019s experience via customer reviews, Amazon stripped out the need to suffer the poor product offerings and dodgy customer service in bricks and mortar shops.\u00a0 Similarly, the likes of Netflix did not kill Blockbuster\u2019s success \u2013 it simply didn\u2019t put the customer first. Never forget that Blockbuster once passed on the opportunity to buy Netflix for just $50 million \u2013 and the idea for Netflix came from a $40 late fee on a DVD from a Blockbuster store.<\/p>\n

Overcome Digital Channel Silos: Boost Customer Engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world every brand should constantly reassess how customer centric it is \u2013 what do your customers want and how are you servicing their needs? It boils down to their basic human desire, for clear, easy and engaging communication and the superhuman provision of what they want, before they want it. This means a seamless omnichannel is essential, with real-time abilities and analytics to turbo charge customer engagement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so important to get the basics right \u2013 put in place a single customer engagement platform for all customer engagement, all channels, across marketing, sales and service.\u00a0 Do that, then you earn the right from your customers to experiment with new innovations.<\/p>\n

For more information, read the eBook Not all Customer Experience Platforms are Created Equal<\/em><\/a>, on how choosing the right technology to design and orchestrate customer engagement across all digital channels and voice is key to delivering on customer expectations for effortless omnichannel experiences.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section full_width=”stretch_row”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Recently, I decided to end a contract with a company whose services I have used for many years (I won\u2019t name them here). I was receiving great service from them for a long time, until something went wrong and I needed them to step up to their obligations. In 2017, the public deserves better! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":121691,"template":"","tax_priority":[],"tax_blogtype":[17751],"tax_blogcategory":[13232],"tax_contenttheme":[],"tax_bundle":[],"tax_contenttheme2":[],"tax_capability_sitewide":[],"tax_products_programs":[],"tax_buying_job":[],"tax_buyer_persona":[],"tax_sector":[],"tax_segment":[],"class_list":["post-118271","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_blogtype-genesys-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-digital-en-gb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/118271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/118271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":367500,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/118271\/revisions\/367500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_priority?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_blogtype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_blogtype?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_blogcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_blogcategory?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_bundle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_bundle?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme2?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_capability_sitewide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_capability_sitewide?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_products_programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_products_programs?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buying_job","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buying_job?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buyer_persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buyer_persona?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_sector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_sector?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"tax_segment","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_segment?post=118271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}