Jo Causon, CEO, Institute of Customer Service:
“In today’s business environment, we see a world that is being disrupted by a complex mix of uncertainty, contradiction and turbulent change and the utilities sector is not immune. As widely reported last week more than 660,000 customers switched their electricity supplier in February – a 60% rise on February 2017. At the Institute we know from our research that consumers do not switch purely for a better price, with a majority of us favouring a balance of service quality and affordability when it comes to choosing supplier.
Given the importance of the UK’s productivity, and the fact there is clear evidence that an investment in customer service could vastly improve the experience of consumers, reduce costly complaints and achieve greater efficiencies for the sector – driving a clear and focused service agenda is even more important.
A recently published Institute research report* clearly demonstrates the link between customer satisfaction and business performance through some hard financial metrics. Over both the short and long term, organisations that consistently perform better than their sector average for customer satisfaction have achieved better revenue growth and higher levels of profit and employee productivity. Not just as a one-off but over a period of years – demonstrating sustainable, measurable improvements.
Difficult times can open up considerable opportunities for those brave enough to embrace them. But this does require organisations to leverage customer service standards to drive up economic performance at a time when other supposed priorities are clamouring for attention, consistently and persistently.”