San Francisco, Calif. — A survey by Exigen Group, a global provider of business process software and services, has found that time-consuming processes and slow service are causing 72% of US consumers to switch their mortgage, insurance or telecom provider. Painful processes are also causing 82% of customers to complain to their friends, 42% to lose their temper and 33% to fight with their family.
The survey of 1,180 consumers highlights the major sources of frustration when dealing with common business processes within service industries, such as applying for a mortgage, preparing a tax return, making an insurance claim, switching telephone companies or installing Internet service. The findings reveal the impact of inefficient processes on corporate reputation and customer satisfaction – and even their effect on end-customers' personal lives.
Almost half (42%) of the respondents said that applying for a mortgage is the most frustrating process to deal with, while 39% say filing an insurance claim is the worst. When asked what makes these processes difficult, about one-third (30%) said that it is the length of time the processes take, and 17% said it is too difficult to obtain necessary information or advice from their service provider.
Fifty-nine percent have complained to a company agent or service rep as a result of dissatisfaction with one of these processes, and two-thirds (67%) have had to correct an error arising from one of them. The survey also showed that nine out of ten (90%) respondents cited reputation for efficiency as a key factor when selecting a service provider, and more than three-fourths (78%) said they would not put up with a frustrating process, even if it costs less.
On a personal level, more than three-fourths of respondents (78%) said that they find these processes stressful and 67% said they have procrastinated on a task such as filing an insurance claim, anticipating it would be frustrating.
"This survey confirms what many organizations suspect from anecdotal customer feedback and introspective analysis: that chronic business process inefficiency, or, as we call it, 'corporate cholesterol', has a direct and immediate impact on customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention," said Mark Christiansen, vice president of marketing at Exigen Group. "When process bottlenecks, duplications of effort and poor integration between systems are to blame for customer churn, it's time to act. The challenge facing organizations today is finding a lasting answer to the problem of operational inefficiency, with many trying to fix just the symptoms with CRM software. In reality, what's needed is a combination of process innovation, automation and continuous activity monitoring, together with a complete understanding of the source of 'corporate cholesterol' in their organization."
Organizations can read more about customer 'processing pains' by downloading the survey report from www.corporatecholesterol.com. They can also learn about the most common sources of process inefficiency from Exigen's guides to 'Spotting the Symptoms of Corporate Cholesterol' for the insurance, banking and communications industries.
© 1999-2008 Exigen Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
