Customer Service: Most Are Willing to Praise, or Complain

A surprisingly large number of people (71%) say they likely to contact a company with feedback after a good customer experience, according to the results of a survey from staffing firm OfficeTeam. The bad news: an even larger number (79%) would reach out after receiving bad service.

Whether you are a business or a consumer, you’ve no doubt noticed that there are powerful ways for people to express their feelings about customer service online.

These online opinions show up on dedicated platforms like Google Opinions and Yelp, as well as a plethora of specialty sites and social media channels.

Consumers say that peer reviews are now the first things they check when considering becoming a customer of a given business. Peer reviews now carry more weight as influencers than expert reviews do.

So, businesses need to be on their toes these days. People are more willing to express their opinions about customer service because it’s become incredibly easy to do so, and because they know that their opinions will reach a wide audience.

Given that 42% of people polled by OfficeTeam said they encounter poor customer service at least monthly, this online feedback process can result in lost business, and fast.

Of the customers who experience lousy customer service, 15% said they would cut ties with a business after a single bad experience. However, that number rises considerably with a second bad experience (23%) and even higher after a third (44%).

Given the online megaphone consumers now have, this disgruntlement with a business can – once expressed online — result in dozens of other people thinking twice about doing business with a given company.