Interesting Statistics

TARP (Technical ASssistance Research Programs) is a Washington D.C. research firm published some interesting statistics that look familiar. For example,
1. The average business does not hear from 96 percent of its unhappy customers.
2. On average, a customer who has an unpleasant experience with a business will tell about 10 other people, and about 13 percent will tell more than 20 people.
3. A customer who has had a good experience with a company will tell an average of five people.
4. For every complaint received, the average business has an additional 26 with problems, and at least 6 of these 26 are serious.
5. 65 percent to 90 percent of your non-complainers will not buy from you again, and you will never know why.
6. Surveys show that you can win back 54 percent to 70 percent of these customers with problems simply by resolving their complaints.
7. As much as 95 percent of this groupwith problems will become loyal customers again if their complaints are handled quickly.

Many of the numbers noted sound very much like the numbers that Tom Peters (author of "In Search of Excellence", et al) used in some of his lectures. They are a good reminder nevertheless and demonstrate the impact of not solving customer problems.

One simple way of improving these statistics and increasing customer loyalty is:
1. Solicit complaints and make it easy for customers to tell you their problems.
2. Solve their complaints as quickly as possible.
3. Keep records and analyze the complaints to determine patterns or trends.