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Survey Shows Corporations Unaware of Customer Churn
500 executives provide feedback on win-back
Mountain View, CA – May 2, 2007 – Customer Winback co-author Jill Griffin and research partner, CustomerSat (www.customersat.com), report troubling new insights into corporations’ recognition of customer defection. Even more disturbing, they discovered few processes for identifying lost customers and winning them back. These findings were gleaned from an in-depth survey of over 500 sales, marketing and corporate buying executives performed in the last 30 days.
"Bad, and getting worse" is how Griffin describes the management of customer defections in today’s corporations. "When we compare the newest data against my 1999 win-back study, we find an even greater deterioration in lost customer policies, programs and monitoring systems. Little wonder customer loss is at an all-time high for many companies," says Griffin.
Survey findings provide details
With few exceptions, the majority of the firms surveyed report critical deficiencies around customer risk, loss and win-back. Highlights include:
- 71%. The number of marketing and sales executives with no process for identifying customers who have defected.
- 46%. The number of marketing and sales executives who do not know how many customers they lose each year.
- 68%. The number of marketing and sales executives whose firms have no process for identifying customers at high risk of defection.
- 62%. The number of marketing and sales executives whose firms have no process for determining which competitor got the lost customer.
- 60%. The number of marketing and sales executives whose firms do not conduct interviews with lost customers.
- 77%. The number of marketing and sales executives who do not know how many lost customers they successfully win-back each year.
What’s driving these dismal findings? "I call it the seven-year plague," jokes Griffin, referring to the merger and acquisition wave, the increase of customer resellers and the proliferation of purchase channels—three key factors which have left even more customers unattended to since the 1999 survey. But, that’s not all, explains Griffin. "Disconnected customer information silos and an emphasis on acquisition over retention have haunted corporations for years. So, it’s no surprise that firms are less equipped today, than ever before, to manage customer loss."
Hopeful signs emerge with renewed lifecycle focus
There is a hopeful sign, however, according to Monica David, vice president of Professional Services at CustomerSat. CustomerSat has been conducting Web-based customer satisfaction and loyalty programs since 1997 and has seen a recent increase in the number of enterprises who are focusing on loyalty—in effect, the retention of customers.
"What we are seeing is more attention to customer life cycle, interest in customer segments, and targeted action programs for those customers. With a lifecycle emphasis, there is more opportunity to identify potential defectors, understand the source of their dissatisfaction, and then take appropriate action," says David. "Furthermore, with online surveys, the results are available in real time and easily accessed by everyone with a need to know. Therefore, customer feedback is being heard across the enterprise and executives are driving hard to take action that will ensure greater customer retention."
As for those customers who do defect, Griffin goes on to say, "Win-back programs pay. The step-by-step solutions that my co-author, Mike Lowenstein, and I laid out in Customer Winback are more applicable today than ever. No retention program is 100 percent foolproof. It’s imperative that companies have proven processes for saving at-risk customers and winning back lost customers they simply can’t afford to lose."
About CustomerSat, Inc.
CustomerSat is the leading provider of enterprise solutions for measuring, analyzing, and managing enterprise-wide action responding to real-time customer feedback. With advanced technologies and proven market research techniques, CustomerSat delivers feedback solutions for service and support, sales and marketing, HR, channel and partner management, IT, website operations and e-commerce, supply chain management and investor relations. CustomerSat is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices throughout the US and Europe. For news, product demonstrations, and other company information, visit www.CustomerSat.com or call 1.800.372.7772.
About Jill Griffin
Jill Griffin has been preaching and teaching the gospel of customer loyalty in Corporate America for almost three decades. She is author of the Harvard recommended, business best seller, Customer Loyalty and co-author of Customer Winback, a Soundview "Best Books" award winner.
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