Loyalty Research Center Manufacturer Case Study: Understanding the Customer After-Sales Service Experience

admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:51:26 +0000

A brand-name electronics manufacturer was interested in prioritizing improvements for one of its major product lines in their after-sales service area (both call center and repair services). The customer’s first line of contact was through the call center. If the customer service representative in the call center could not diagnose/fix the problem over the telephone, a service call appointment was set-up.

The research objective of this program was to provide the manufacturer with a statistically valid and representative picture of current North American consumer expectations and customer perceptions of the after-sales service experience.

The business objective was to assist the manufacturer in establishing new KPIs for both the call center and repair service performance.

To accomplish these objectives, this program was designed to:

Offer a more thorough understanding of the specific issues involving after-sales service satisfaction of call centers and in-home repair service;
Determine the relative impact/value and evaluation of individual aspects of the service experience;
Compare among product brands but also to the “best all-around” service experience (not necessarily the specific product brands mentioned);
Develop specific KPI measurement recommendations and a performance scorecard;
Identify areas of opportunity for improvement;
Provide additional direction for improving the customer experience.

The client was interested in understanding where they could add value to the overall customer experience within the call center and repair service. There was strong internal debate as to whether they should simply use their current customer service model and execute it more consistently or invest a significant amount of dollars to redesign the customer service model.

The study found similarities between the call center and repair service in what improvements would have the most impact on the overall customer experience. In the call center, it was resolving customer issues in one call and explaining the problem one time (by reducing transfers). For the repair service, resolving customer problems in one visit.

Based on the Loyalty Research Center recommendations, the manufacturer is considering additional, specialized product training for both the customer service representatives and the repair technicians; and for the call center, making sure that the calls are distributed to the appropriate product group to reduce transfers.

The manufacturer will re-measure in six months.