For Indians, Customer Care More Important Than Price of a Product

With Indians turning to social media over customer care-related grouses, it’s time brands got their act together.

Indian customers are willing to pay extra for better post-sales services. (Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Customer service is a sore point for most consumers in India, and very few brands can claim to be providing a hassle-free post-sale experience to customers.

A new survey confirms this, with the results showing that a whopping 63% of customers in India choose to abandon a brand because of poor customer service.

The Global Customer Service Barometer, a survey carried out by American Express, also highlights that consumers are increasingly using social media to praise or malign a brand or product based on their post-sales experience.

The survey has also shown us that for customers in India, the quality of customer support is more important than the product itself when they want to make a purchase.

(Photo: The Quint) 

What Consumers Face Daily

The survey report says that 64% of the survey participants have resorted to social media to get a response from the company over customer care-related issues.

If you glance through the Facebook or Twitter page of companies in India, you’ll come across many complaints from customers that were not adequately addressed by customer care. Often, companies act promptly when they receive complaints online.

Case in point: Mahesh (name changed) bought a smartphone from an online vendor. But after a couple of months, it died on him suddenly.

After contacting the manufacturer’s customer service centre repeatedly, he decided to tweet about the problem. And as expected, the issue was sorted by the company in a couple of hours.

Mahesh is one of many consumers who feel they can instantly connect with brands via social channels. The auto sector too has seen similar incidents.

When buying a phone from an online brand, you’d go with a company that people will vouch for its service support, or your past experience itself.

Pradeep Kapur, Senior Vice President, American Express Global Servicing Network – Japan and Asia Pacific 

This year’s survey has also shown us that for customers in India, the quality of customer support is more important than the product itself when they want to make a purchase.

Kapur highlighted that this is the first time when customer service tops customer requirements.

Need for Human Connect

The interactive voice response system (or IVRS) used for customer care is also seemingly unpopular, owing to poor quality and lack of connect.

A majority of consumers in India prefer to speak with a real person, as they like the sense of ‘human connect’ that comes with this.

Too many steps or questions are the main grouses against automated voice systems, and this often leads to customers to hang up or even abandon the brand. 

Many of the survey respondents said a pleasant interaction with support staff translates into a positive review for the brand.

The report also states that customers don’t mind paying extra for brands that deliver quality service support.