Firms lacking customer experience basics are costing themselves business - study

Customer experience (CX) is the new business battleground for the professional services sector, yet a new research study assessing the experiences of potential customers shows many firms are letting themselves down and may have even damaged the business.

The comprehensive study was undertaken by customer experience specialists Insight6, and included 256 companies across the UK with 500 new enquiries across four principal types of professional services firms - accountancy, insurance and finance, legal and property.

The research covered the full customer journey of a new enquiry from the basics, such as how long it took to answer the phone, whether the initial contact was welcoming and how long it took the firms to follow up their enquiries.

The findings now provide a benchmark for customer experience and satisfaction within the professional services industry which is currently performing poorly with a Net Promoter Score (NPS)* of -42. For comparison, Amazon 's NPS is 53, Netflix is 55 and Apple is 56.

Research by the London School of Economics shows that for every 7 per cent increase in a brand 's NPS, their revenue will grow by 1 per cent as a direct result.

The results, published by insight6 in The Professional Services Client Journey Report 2021, is the customer experience specialists ' most ambitious study to date.

Shaun Cremins (pictured), insight6 director, said: “It is clear that professional services firms have a huge opportunity to improve CX, deliver a superior experience to both new and existing clients, and reap significant business benefits in doing so, ”

The study found firms providing excellent CX, but for many there is a huge opportunity for improvement. Typically, it is a simple matter of applying emotional intelligence - a human touch, an effort to listen and explain without jargon, and making a follow-up call.

Shaun added: “Winning over customers is about more than clinching a one-off sale. It is about winning their loyalty and their trust for a lifetime. Helping customers with their finances, their homes, their jobs, or their legal affairs all require a human connection. ”

Customers' expectations are rising. In a world that is moving rapidly to new communication channels, and with younger generations (the customers of tomorrow) increasingly keen to use alternative communication channels, professional services firms are falling behind.

Website contact forms are a quick and convenient way for customers to contact businesses and are frequently used. However, the report shows over a third of web enquiries made by a potential client went completely unanswered.

A poor experience at the 'interest ' stage of the customer journey reflects badly on the firm, and prospects may feel their enquiry is unimportant and therefore opt to do business with a responsive competitor.

Professional services firm also performed poorly. The report shows 42 per cent of phone calls were not returned, even when the potential new client had left a voicemail. In fact, only 8 per cent of companies bothered to follow up a new customer phone enquiry within the next working week; this rose slightly to 10 per cent when the enquiry was made via email.

Shaun said: “Professional services firms know that the best businesses have a long-term vision and that they have a legacy of service and good customer experiences. They are often unaware, that through weak CX and fragmented customer journeys, their own business is putting their reputation and legacy at risk, ”

Overall, researchers were underwhelmed by how the firms handled their enquiries. Just 23 per cent felt the team member attempted to add value or go further to help them, and only 43 per cent said that they would recommend the business to others.

Behind poor CX, you can find underlying problems in a firm 's culture, such as short-term targets, disengaged teams or siloed working. Beyond technology, effective CX is often about empowering staff and providing them with the skills, tools, and authority they need.

Finding the problems is the starting point for improving CX, but it is also half the battle because once the flaws have been identified, the solutions are often very straightforward.

For more information, visit https://www.insight6.com/

*NPS is an index rating from -100 to 100 the measures willingness of customers to recommend a company 's products or services.