Customers do reveal data

Every third customer of telecommunications and online companies in Germany is ready to have their telephone or online behavior evaluated by the providers if, in return, the companies tailor their service more precisely to individual needs. That is the result of a representative survey by the Munich Business School and the business and IT consultancy for customer management solutions SHS Viveon AG.

According to the survey, which was carried out among more than 1,000 participants via online questionnaires and direct surveys, 47.5 percent of telephone and online customers want information that is tailored to their individual situation. More than two thirds of these customers are willing to have their telephone behavior (68.5 percent) or their first purchase and subsequent purchases on the Internet evaluated (71.4 percent).

In the survey, the participants should also indicate which type of contact they prefer with their telecommunications provider. 35.1 percent opted for a conversation in business, 30.7 percent for obtaining information via the Internet and 19.7 percent for exchanging e-mails. There is little interest in the providers’ initiative measures: just 7.9 percent of those surveyed want to be informed through personalized mail, only 6.6 percent through initiative calls from their provider.

“The telecommunications providers apparently meet the needs of their customers with their contact measures rather imprecisely,” says Professor Carsten Rennhak from the Munich Business School, who led the study project. “Customers expect personal support – but in most personalized customer letters, the only individual element is the salutation. And even with initiative calls, customers tend to have the feeling that the pure intention to sell is in the foreground for the caller rather than a requirement for service or advice. ”

The study participants criticized the greatest deficit of having no personal contact person for their concerns and, despite some long-term customer relationships, repeatedly coming into contact with employees who know nothing about the customer’s concerns and the previous course of the business relationship.

“These findings coincide with our experience from consulting practice,” explains Stefan Gilmozzi, CEO of SHS Viveon AG and responsible for the DACH consulting business. “Many companies are not yet able to sufficiently use the information they have from the business relationship with their customers at all times in a customer-friendly manner and to an adequate extent for their customer approach and customer loyalty measures. For many companies, there is enormous and so far untapped potential for optimizing their services and customer satisfaction. “

The survey also provides interesting results with regard to the wishes of online buyers for further information from their online sellers: 43.5 percent of customers basically do not want any further information about offers from this provider after the transaction, while most other buyers provide larger information time intervals. 25.3 percent are open to monthly information, and 20.3 percent of those surveyed consider quarterly information to be sufficient. Only 11.0 percent of online shoppers want to be notified weekly. It is interesting that frequent buyers have a significantly lower interest in being contacted by providers than occasional users of e-commerce offers.

www.the-customer-management-company.com/CRM-Studie.html