With the beginning of the digital era, having a consistent brand voice isn’t easy. A few companies understand customer experience as cleaning up the mess efficiently or being responsive when needed. But, a Mckinsey study says, companies need to move from touch points to journeys, to improve customer experience. Yet, a few industries consider CX as their least priority and bungle. According to the Engine Group survey, the Public transport and Trains industry has worst customer experience followed by Utilities, Broadband and Media, Public Services, and Insurance Industry.
Competition and choice, complexity, and visibility are the three things that impacts customer experience the most. Let us analyze why these industries perform poorly, when it comes to customer experience.
Public Transport and Trains
When it comes to public transportation people have little or no choice to switch to. Because of very less competition and economic pricing, public transport sector invests less in customer engagement and experience.
Complicated ticket pricing structure, dry communication style, and hardly accessible inconsistent information form a poor perception in the eyes of a customer. Also, the poor social media presence of the public sector transportation organizations hampers their engagement with customers.
The visibility of the public transportation sector is limited to the quality of seating, condition of a vehicle, and quality of service. We have very limited touch points with the sector whereas a few more like online ticket booking, location tracking, message alert etc. could be implemented to increase the number. These being the limited contact points for people with the organization, leads to the formation of a perception, that customer service is below standards. If we increase the number of touch points, we will have more parameters to judge the service on.
Utility
Similar to Public transport, Utility services also have very less or no competition and thus, customers have no choice but to use the services of their existing vendor. Utility services also tend to process their customers as numbers rather than as people. But slowly their tendency is changing with the employees getting more freedom to use their discretion.
Complex billing structure hampers the simple and seamless experience for a customer. Also, the layers of administration and time complexity involved in acquiring utility services, contribute to the poor customer experience.
Earlier the sole demands of customers were low power rates and minimal power cuts, but customers have become accustomed to better service from other industries. Also, the back end of utility systems isn’t comprehended as a part of service by customers, leaving only two or three regions as touch-points.
Broad band and Media
The major problem faced by Broadband and media industries is that they promise more than they can deliver. Also, people want their telecast without a glitch and there is a very small window to resolve the problem before the anger hits in. Because of extreme competition, they often lie to people that what they are paying for is worth it.
According to an Ofcom Survey, coverage, network and complaint handling are the major factors in customers frustration. Also, two in five mobile data connections made by 4G customers were to 3G or 2G networks. Also, the broadband providers are knowingly decreasing the service standards to keep the operations cost low.
Public Services
As taxpayers, citizens of the country expect a certain level of service from the government and expects fast resolutions for their queries. Poor customer service makes government agencies look inefficient and reckless.
The major reasons behind poor customer service are the use of old technology in tackling customer queries and absence of a streamlined process to deal with them. Enhancing customer service can save policy implementation costs and increase efficiency of the organization.
Insurance
Insurance companies come under deep scrutiny when it comes to customer service. Most of the customers have a bad experience with the insurance providers because of the high expectations created by the companies. Also, insurance companies are unable to leverage technology and are thus slow when a customer claims policy. Numerous fin-tech startups have grown in this sector, giving the traditional companies a tough competition.
