Rigorously test what customers want ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Keeping customers happy in hard times

Some executives think it’s necessary to cope with challenging times by slashing customer service, and many of them did just that during the recession of 2008. They were clearly deluded, however, as e-commerce was making customer satisfaction even more important. Yet hard times call for creative solutions. How can companies maintain or improve their service levels while managing costs? A 2008 McKinsey article suggested that they should rigorously test their ideas about what makes customers
satisfied. In doing so, many find that their long-held ideas are simply wrong.

Consider time-to-answer, a metric used to calculate employment in call centers. Unfortunately, a 10 percent improvement requires much more than a 10 percent increase in staff. Some companies have carefully measured their customers’ attitudes on this subject. A wireless telecom provider found that answering phones immediately produced delight among customers and that leaving them on hold for a specific number of seconds—the patience threshold—produced strong dissatisfaction. Customers didn’t care about times in between these poles. The company relaxed its service levels but carefully avoided crossing the patience threshold. Customer satisfaction dropped negligibly, but the significant savings in staff costs were reinvested to raise it by making problems easier to resolve.

This isn’t an isolated example. Read our classic article “Maintaining the customer experience.”

— Roger Draper, editor, New York

Learn what’s really important to customers

Related Reading

CX without design only gets you halfway

Adapting customer experience in the time of coronavirus

Six customer experience pitfalls to avoid

Did You Miss Our Previous McKinsey Classics?

How the best organizations manage talent

Of the practices that influence an organization’s productivity, talent management is often the one most in need of improvement. Read our 2011 classic “How the best organizations manage talent.”

Improve your teams’ productivity

Follow our thinking

McKinsey Insights - Get our latest thinking on your iPhone, iPad or Android.

Share these insights

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to colleagues and friends so they can subscribe too. Was this issue forwarded to you? Sign up for it and sample our 40+ other free email subscriptions here.