A new report from customer insight and database marketing specialist Transactis has revealed that if customers see that a company is using their data to provide good products, relevant communications and efficient service, then they are more likely to trust that firm to hold their data and continue using it to ensure their satisfaction.

 In an age when consumers really have to take a leap of faith and trust companies with their data if they want to make transactions over the internet, most need to feel comfortable that those companies are handling their details responsibly. In order to determine how consumers feel about the care and use of their personal data by the companies they deal with, Transactis surveyed over 2,000 people from across the UK.

 Nearly 90% say they assume that a company is looking after their personal data carefully and intelligently if they are receiving a good service and the customer communications are sensible and relevant. And, more than 80% are happy to hand over further personal data if they see that it is being used to provide relevant perks such as special offers, discounts and loyalty bonuses.

 The vast majority of consumers – more than 92% – believe the companies that have the most satisfied customers are the ones doing the best job of looking after their personal details and using them to add value.

 However, only about one fifth of consumers see any of the firms they buy from using their personal data to make attractive offers and deliver good customer service.

 If companies do show that they are not using data effectively then they risk losing the trust of their customers. The Transactis report found that around 78% of UK consumers begin to doubt the ability of a firm to look after their personal information if the company continually asks for personal details when they have already provided them.

 Peter Thompson, Transactis’ commercial director, comments:  “Data security and the proper handling of personal information is not something most consumers think about, or are particularly concerned about, until there is a problem. In other words, consumers assume that their data is being handled in a careful and intelligent way if they receive good service and sensible communications from a company. But their confidence in a firm’s ability to look after their data can disappear completely if the wrong order arrives, or a delivery goes to the wrong place, or they start to receive unexpected and badly targeted marketing communications – or, in the worst-case scenario, they find that it has been carelessly handled, resulting in fraud.

 “The research demonstrates that customer data has to be used to inform and shape every aspect of a company’s business – from product development to marketing communications to the processing of orders.”

About Transactis

Transactis creates insight from customer transactions and enables clients to act and communicate at an individual level. Using its unique data resources, specialist knowledge and innovative technology, Transactis delivers products and services that allow its clients to make better, faster and more informed decisions to generate greater efficiencies, profit and an enhanced experience for their customers. Honours at the 2009 Data Strategy Awards and Retail Week Technology Awards are the latest in a series of industry accolades for helping clients to maximise performance and value from their customer management investment.

For more information, visit www.transactis.co.uk

1. Don’t sit there while you try to fix the problem and hope that it won’t affect your customers. Why not be pro-active and inform customers in the affected areas that you’re working to sort the problem out? They’ll appreciate your honesty and forward planning a whole lot more.
2. Don’t try to make out that the business or person calling up is in fact not a customer. That will just make you look (a) silly and (b) show that your internal systems cannot perform the simplest of tasks like confirming whether you are a customer or not.
3. Don’t say that the problem is ‘only’ affecting 500 customers. Any number going into three digits sounds like a lot to me, particularly when so many organisations rely on broadband to complete every day business tasks and important transactions.
4. Don’t take 5 working days to try to get some sort of resolution or organise an engineer to be sent out.  A lot can and should be happening in 5 business days with a good internet connection!
5. Don’t refuse to offer any apology whatsoever, ignore the requirement for some sort of compensation or provide an interim solution to ensure business continuity.  With mobile broadband (you know those dongles/USBs that you see everyone using) a commonly available service these days there’s no excuse not to provide your business customers with a short-term solution while you fix the problem.

The business world, and marketers in particular, are always trying to highlight the importance of customer experience and crisis management in maintaining good relationships and stemming churn rates. Our recent office experience just proves that large corporates are still not practising what they preach to handle these situations effectively.

Okay rant over.  Anyone know of a good broadband provider that doesn’t have a two letter acronym as part of its name…?

First there was the issue of the apparently defective accelerators that led to lawsuits in the US and, splashed across the global media, the heart-wrenching story of a family heard on a 911 call to emergency services in the US as they sped into a crash that killed them because their Toyota Lexus was accelerating out of control. You can’t buy publicity that bad.

But Toyota was slow to concede that there was anything seriously wrong with its cars and questions are being raised about how long the company knew about problem. Toyota is now in the midst of the recall of eight million cars worldwide – but attempts to deal directly with the issue by the company have come only after the story has snowballed.

Now there is the additional story of the recall of nearly half a million Toyota hybrids due to faulty brakes, the ramifications of which will be compounded by Toyota’s slow handling of the accelerator recall crisis.

Toyota could have been proactive about its safety problems as soon as word began to spread but waited until the media bandwagon started rolling with the momentum of a rocket ship before deciding to take firm and open action. Companies today just can’t wait for a situation to reach crisis point before taking action to deal with the fears, concerns and questions of their customers.

In today’s world, where the lightening speed of communications on the internet magnifies much smaller problems than Toyota is facing, preparing to deal with the spectre of a major recall or safety alert before things start to spin out of control is vital. A brand may take a hit – maybe a big financial hit – by being up front and admitting if it has a problem, but this will help to mitigate longer-term damage and distrust that could ultimately be much more costly. And it has to have call centre capabilities and a contact strategy it can roll out quickly.

One of our clients, Blueview, has been beating this drum for a while now. As a company specialising in multi-channel communication and contact, Blueview sees having a contingency plan in place in case a recall crisis breaks as vital. Existing customer contact facilities are never enough to deal with the flood of queries that comes in when a major recall or safety alert is announced.

To showcase Blueview’s expertise in this area, we have worked with the agency to put together a research report on product recall management, the results of which were widely reported in the media,  and also a how-to guide that shows how a company can prepare for and tackle a crisis.

If a company can at least have enough people in place to take calls and reassure its customers – or at least tell them where they stand with respect to a product problem – while its PR team is talking to them openly in the media and through online channels, then it stands a much better chance of recovering from a major recall crisis sooner. And the sooner a company tackles a problem the better. Unfortunately for Toyota, it seems to be just learning this lesson now.