Accenture 2007 Global Customer Satisfaction Survey

Findings from the 2007 Accenture Global Customer Satisfaction Survey offer compelling evidence of the vital role played by the customer service experience in enabling growth and high performance. In a world where feature and price advantages can be quickly matched, if not bettered, by competitors from virtually anywhere in the world, a company's best source of sustainable competitive advantage may be the customer experience it delivers.

However, while the service experience exerts more influence on customer purchase and switching decisions than ever, few companies are distinguishing themselves for service quality, according to the findings of the third annual Accenture customer satisfaction survey, which this year polled 3,500 consumers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. For companies planning to expand into new geographies—or facing new competition from emerging markets—these findings may have profound implications.

For more information about Accenture's customer satisfaction research, visit accenture.com/centricity.

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Accenture's 2007 Customer Service Satisfaction Survey is third in a series of annual studies designed to examine consumer attitudes towards customer service.

With this research, as in years past, we explore the progress companies have made towards enhancing the quality and business impact of the service experience they give their customers. By examining the extent to which today's consumers are satisfied with customer service and looking at the impact that customer service—whether satisfying or frustrating—may have on the bottom line, we are better able to advise companies on why and how to differentiate their business through customer service.

Accenture's first two annual studies examined consumer attitudes in the United States and the United Kingdom. This year we expanded the study to include 3,500 consumers across seven countries—Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. Given the rapid growth of emerging economies and unparalleled advances in information and communications across the globe, we decided to expand the study beyond the United States and the United Kingdom to give companies a better understanding of service requirements in these complex yet potentially lucrative markets.

Our 2007 survey found, as in years past, that despite the billions spent by companies on customer service, services are falling short of consumer expectations. In emerging economies, consumer expectations appear to be rising even more sharply, and multinationals seeking to tap the growth potential of these markets must pay heed to their fast-rising standards for service quality.

Based on the results of our 2007 survey, we believe the gap is widening between the service consumers expect and the service they experience. Consumers today expect more when it comes to service. One-third (33 percent) of the consumers in our global sample have higher expectations for customer service today compared to one year ago. Slightly more than one-half (52 percent) say their expectations are higher today than they were five years ago.

Generally, however, companies are failing to differentiate themselves based on service—or to satisfy the rising expectations of consumers. Few respondents consider themselves "very satisfied" or rate their experiences as "excellent"—and excellence is what's called for in this time of heightened global competition. In fact, 41 percent of our global respondents describe service quality as fair, poor or terrible and only 5 percent describe it as excellent. In Brazil, for example, more than half (54 percent) describe customer service as fair, poor or terrible—in China, 56 percent feel the same.

What's more, although consumer expectations have risen over the last first years, the percentage of "very satisfied" customers has remained flat for every service channel over the three years we have conducted this survey.

The shortfall in service quality is more than a mere annoyance—it has genuine business impact: lost customers as well as missed opportunities to gain new business. For the third straight year, service quality is the leading reason why consumers decide to leave a provider—not only in developed economies such as the United States and United Kingdom, but globally. Most respondents (59 percent) report having switched at least one provider in the past year due to poor service. Switching occurs across industries, with geographic variations. In countries we have surveyed previously—the United States and the United Kingdom—the percentage of consumers leaving due to poor service has increased over time. In the United Kingdom, for instance, it has risen from 50 percent to 58 percent during the last three years.

Poor service may also be preventing companies from attracting new customers: nearly 60 percent of our respondents say customer service is the key differentiating factor when choosing a new provider—ahead of even price (55 percent), product (34 percent) and convenience (34 percent). This finding offers the clearest evidence yet that companies known for delivering a substandard service experience have a steep challenge ahead when it comes to growth.

Accenture believes that any company not working to tailor the customer experience to customer preferences—or any company that still serves customers the same way it did five years ago—is extremely vulnerable to competition. In our increasingly multi-polar world—where competition can come from virtually any geography—the ability to deliver a satisfying service experience is the most powerful source of sustainable competitive edge—nothing else compares.

To deliver the kind of differentiated experience that drives high performance, successful organizations must become truly customer-centric, incorporating the customer's perspective, value and actions into their business and operations strategy, capability development and execution. For many organizations, this may prove to be a hard transition to make.

Accenture works with organizations to find the most intelligent, efficient path to customer centricity. Our knowledge of customer centricity—gained through extensive market research—and our deep experience—accumulated through years of client work—combine to create a powerful resource for transformation. As a result, we are able to help our clients quickly develop new growth strategies in response to changing consumer demands and new market opportunities. We help them operationalize new approaches to customer segmentation, producing more relevant offerings and better differentiated service experiences. And we help them execute these models, quickly and flawlessly, across the supply chain.

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