Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It (1st ed.)

Citation

Hazlett, K. (2012), "Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It (1st ed.)", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 No. 7, pp. 553-554. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761211275054

Wired And Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It is an unmistakable wake‐up call for both business managers and marketing directors […] actually anyone involved in the customer service chain.

The authors make it clear from the outset that it is no longer “business as usual.” “Technology has made today's customers powerful and potentially dangerous. While CEOs and CFOs focus on stock prices and raising capital, customers zero in on getting fair value – and that now includes a positive service experience” (p. 6).

Wired and Dangerous applies to anyone involved in the customer service/customer satisfaction process, from front‐line sales to C‐suite management. Expectations have rocketed from “ah well, I got my product” to “What are other customers saying about Company X?” And, consumers are relying less frequently on companies' marketing pronouncements and more and more on third‐party perceptions and recommendations.

“A 2009 Nielsen online survey of 25,000 consumers in more than 50 countries found that customers trusted friends, family, and peers for product recommendations 90 percent of the time” (p. 16).

Concurrent with this increased reliance on “third‐party endorsement” is an expectation of enhanced service. “It is not that organizations are responding less but that they are responding incorrectly – out of sync with what new customers require. They are ‘efforting’ but not achieving” (p. 19).

The paradox in this observation is that service recipients and service providers have different perceptions of that service. “In a recent survey of several thousand customers in a variety of industries, over three‐fourths of respondents indicated the quality of customer service provided had either stayed the same or gotten worse. And, what do employees and executives think? Fifty percent of them thought service had improved” (p. 28).

With this as a backdrop, the authors proceed to analyze the present‐day “wired” customer, devoting four chapters to specific characteristics, including “Picky” (Ch. 2), “Fickle” (Ch. 3), “Vocal” (Ch. 4), and “Vain” (Ch. 5).

These traits, say Bell and Patterson, are defenses nurtured by previous experiences that have been less than satisfactory. “Burned by experiences that fall short of their very high expectations, [customers] are constantly on guard for another disappointment” (p. 36).

While poor customer service is never “acceptable,” today's mega‐connected world raises the bar considerably when it comes to customers voicing their dissatisfaction. In earlier times, an unhappy customer would share that displeasure with a relatively small circle of friends. Today is a very different scenario. As vividly described by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, “If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends” (p. 47).

Not only is there an expectation of good service today; there is concurrently an expectation of always available service […] 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Being “closed for the holiday” is a non‐option for today's online consumer. “For customers, an organization that closes its merchandising access at 5 p.m. is a bit like Paul Revere electing to wait until morning instead of mounting his steed at midnight” (p. 71).

But how does a merchandiser or service provider contend with the ramped‐up expectations of customers? What strategies can be employed to not just meet, but exceed, those expectations?

The solution, say the authors in Chapters 6 through 12, lies in the nurturing of “partnerships” in which the customer feels a sense of ownership of the process. “Today's winning organizations – the ones with the endearing and enduring products and services – design them ‘with’ rather than ‘for’ customers” (p. 99).

This is all well and good. But we all know that, as Scottish poet Robert Burns noted, “things go bump in the night.” And the savvy merchandiser is prepared for that “bump” with action rather than mere word. “Service failure first and foremost robs customers of the confidence they have in an organization, yet that confidence is quickly restored if customers observe you moving nimbly and confidently to address their problem” (p. 120).

Quick, decisive action is crucial, especially in a marketplace that is more and more “virtual” rather than “brick‐and‐mortar.” In face‐to‐face transactions conducted in physical surroundings, both the merchant and the customer have the advantage of both verbal and non‐verbal cues in their interaction. The internet removes the latter, and “[…] robbed of the capacity to read non‐verbal information, there is great potential for misinformation and misinterpretation” (p. 121).

The challenge for the merchant is to make his or her online interactions feel as responsive and inclusive as those in the physical marketplace. “The more the internet feels like a cyber watering hole, friendly to all as well as protective of all, the more it becomes a crucible of trust and an assembly of importance” (p. 130).

One step in this process is, as described in Chapter 11, “Congruence,” encouraging a sense of tranquility […] of confidence […] in the customer. This, for the merchandiser, means establishing a consistency of service that ensures the experience will meet or exceed expectations. “Standards help create a consistency of experience that builds all‐important customer trust […] When people know what to expect each and every time they do business with you […] they are more likely to return with their funds and friend in tow” (pp. 147‐8).

Chapter 12, “Acumen,” discusses the inevitability of a customer choosing, in spite of your best efforts to communicate and accommodate, to shop elsewhere. “Accenture's Global Consumer Satisfaction Survey found that 69 percent of customers have voted with their feet in the past year, moving to a new provider for at least one product or service” (p. 160).

This observation completes the “reality check” of customer service in today's internet‐driven consumer marketplace. The merchant or service provider is well‐advised to read […] and heed.

The authors conclude Wired and Dangerous with “Suggestions for Partnering with Customers” (Section III). From diligent reputation management to observing the customer service experience from the customer's perspective and evaluating the customer service process through focus groups, the service provider will find useful and pertinent suggestions for fine‐tuning the customer service process.

“Wired and Dangerous” is a valuable resource for anyone with responsibility for some aspect of customer service. While it should be clear that customer service is a constantly‐evolving process, factor in the ultimate success or failure of an organization, it should also be recognized that this is not a perfect world. As long as the organization is conducting business and interacting with customers or potential customers on the internet, there is the chance of something going “bump in the night.” This book will help minimize those bumps.