Cost Deflection Out“ Customer Experience In!
David Barrow
Expert Author
Published: 2006-05-09
Cost deflection strategies deteriorate customer loyalty.
“Your call is important to us. please hold”
“We’ve automated our phone system for your convenience.”
“Our agents are busy helping other customers.”
As consumers, we are all too familiar with these rote statements that are somehow supposed to make us feel all warm and fuzzy while we cool our heels wishing we could talk to a real live human being. Whether you have a question about your mortgage rate, problems with your printer, or simply want to find out when a movie is playing, chances are you’ll have to run through a maze of options before you get the answer you want. With companies seeking to squeeze every penny out of operating costs, by deflecting customers to use less expensive means of communication (the Web versus the phone) it seems we’re stuck in self-service purgatory. In reality, this drive for cost deflection is alienating customers and eroding profits.