The Root Cause of Customer Dissatisfaction
| by Steve Flick | ||||
One way to be sure to eliminate a problem for good is to identify the root cause and eliminate it. In the world of quality, we have this easy to use tool for getting to the root cause of a problem.
The “Five Whys”, simply put, means you state the problem and keep asking why until you’ve identified the root cause. However, using the Five Whys means the problem has occurred. Isn’t it better to prevent the problem from happening than correct it after the fact? Preventive action is infinitely preferable to corrective action.
I’ll give you a “for instance”. Someone I know recently left a wireless provider she’d been with for several years. What upset her most was that when she canceled, the customer service rep (CSR) didn’t ask why she was leaving. She might have reacted positively if the CSR had offered her an incentive to stay but he didn’t, and she’d pretty much made up her mind by then that they weren’t worthy.
If you can’t give somebody a reason to stay all along, your problems aren’t going to be magically solved by root cause analysis or any other corrective action tools. A root cause analysis may help you solve your problem, but why let the problem happen in the first place? Why not head off the problem? Take an active interest in your customers, rather than sit back and wait for things to happen.
Most customers will walk away from you without complaining. They don’t announce that they’re taking their business elsewhere: they just do it. They don’t give you a chance to explain yourself because they feel like they’ve been let down all along.
Dissatisfaction isn’t the result of a one-time occurrence. It happens over a period of time. If, from the outset, communication is poor or nonexistent, the foundation for customer dissatisfaction is being laid. If you don’t continue to make your customer feel valued and welcome, the relationship that might have been never is.
Next, I’ll be looking for an answer to the question, “Why don’t customers complain?”, and I’m asking for your help. Are you more likely to complain to your vendors, or do you keep quiet and look for an alternative right away? What if you don’t have an alternative? What do you do then?
Thanks for your insights, and best wishes.
Categories:
Customer Quality
Tags:
corrective action • customer satisfaction • customer service • preventive action • root cause • root cause analysis
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Originally published in 2010 by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title The Root Cause of Customer Dissatisfaction. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted with attribution only. www.bizmanualz.com
9 Responses to “The Root Cause of Customer Dissatisfaction”
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March 29th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
The older I get (40s) the more that I am apt to register a complaint for poor product or customer service. My willingness to do so, however, depends solely on my investment in the product or servcice.
If I rarely visit a company or use a product, I may not take the time to register a letter or phone call with a manager. If the vendor or product is one that I wish to frequent, then taking the time to explain the problem and recommend a solution makes it worth my time investment.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:35 am
S.S., thank you for your comment. One question: You wrote of your “investment in the product”. Are you talking about time as well as money? Do you have a dollar figure or number of hours in mind going in?
March 30th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I feel (that) registering a complaint consumes some time (or formalities). It’s better to opt for alternatives.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
By “investment” I mean how much I like or value the product or service. For example, if I highly value the maintenance service that I receive at my car dealership and a occasion arises where I receive less-than-adequate service, I will register a complaint. I will do so because I value the experience that I’ve grown accustomed to receiving at the dealership and do not wish to invest the time in searching out a new mechanic.
It would be my hope that the dealership valued my patronage enough to correct the problem. If not, I would be forced to look elsewhere, but not without first telling the dealership’s general manager why I am leaving. It’s only fair to the business since oftentimes, senior managers don’t know what’s happening at the customer level…ergo the new television show “Undercover Boss.”
On the other hand, I also pass along kudos to managers whose employees do a stellar job. It works both ways.
I don’t normally have a dollar figure or number of hours in mind going in. At this time in my life, it is about quality of product and service. And in this economy, every dollar counts.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
S.S., thank you for taking the time to explain. There’s a lot of useful information there, especially with respect to maintaining mutually profitable relationships.
Thanks very much for your time. I hope to see you around here again.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
S.R., your comment is an interesting juxtaposition to SS’s. Are you saying you never want to establish a relationship with any vendor? Or, do you occasionally make exceptions?
Also, what happens when there are no alternatives?
April 6th, 2010 at 7:57 am
I will complain as a customer, if I am sure the vendor will act on my complaint not necessarily on my immediate dissatisfaction but as a measure against future occurrence.
I am inclined to believe that customers do not complain because they can always “vote”with their money and feet.
April 6th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Kodjo, every vendor was a new vendor at some point in history. How do you know…how can you be sure…that a new vendor will act on your complaint? How do you know which vendors take the idea of “corrective action” seriously?
I, too, believe customers “vote with their wallets”, but acting on impulse is often fraught with peril. Do you think customers are right 100% of the time? Can their demands and expectations ever be irrational or unreasonable?
May 4th, 2010 at 10:54 am
customer will always find it to complain because they can get thesame goods some where else so they don’t want you to sit at defencive side