Issue 9 | April 2007

Customer Priorities: what customers really want

The ICS report published in March 2007, found that customers' top ten priorities in determining their satisfaction are:

1. Overall quality of the product or service supplied
2. Friendliness of staff
3. Handling problems and complaints
4. Speed of service
5. Helpfulness of staff
6. Handling enquiries
7. Being treated as a valued customers
8. Competence of staff
9. Ease of doing business
10. Being kept informed

The ICS writes that “After years of organisations focusing their efforts on 'selling' services and products, they are now focusing their attention on 'customer experience'; this is what will differentiate an organisation from its competitor in future years.

Customers are now in the driving seat, they have access to real time information not only about your organisation but your competitor too and all at the touch of a button. Customer loyalty is harder to achieve, more now than it ever has been, it is therefore crucial that organisations focus on the customer’s experience rather than selling a service / product to achieve higher levels of customer loyalty and bottom line financial gain.”

The publication of this research couldn’t have come at a better time for Customer First UK as the Customer First Standard is repositioned as the National Standard for Customer Service. The Standard offers a practical approach to offering customer service excellence at every stage of the Customer's Journey from their first enquiry, to service delivery, to post-service follow-up to building the long term relationship. Crucially the Standard supports organisations to ensure their customers have a consistent service experience every time.

View Report

Back to Newsletter Contents