The importance of building trust through customer care
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Business Stream Customer Services Director Jo Mayes shares insight into the company’s new Customer Care Charter, developed to help meet and exceed their customers’ needs.
According to the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, customer satisfaction has fallen to its lowest point since 2010, with trust and perceptions of customer care declining across all sectors. And research from the New Britain Report shows that 78% of UK consumers regularly feel frustrated when interacting with customer services.
In response, industry bodies like the Institute of Customer Service have called for a more joined-up approach across sectors. That includes sharing best practice, aligning around vulnerability standards, and ensuring frontline colleagues are trained and supported to meet a wider range of customer needs.
At Business Stream, we’ve taken the time to reflect on how we can respond as part of our ongoing commitment to evolving the services we design and deliver to ensure they meet our customers’ needs.
Four key pillars of Customer Care Charter
One step we’ve taken is the introduction of our Customer Care Charter – which is a set of 12 commitments focused on four key areas: Simple and Easy, Trust, Experience and Expertise, and Care. Each pillar, which has been informed by customer research and insight, is backed by clear, measurable actions that exceed business-as-usual expectations.
We’re passionate about delivering a great service to our customers, every day. And this initiative was born out of a desire across the company to be more transparent, to use customer insight to help shape our service delivery and to hold ourselves to account.
Commitments that we’re in the process of delivering include:
· Longer opening hours
· New live chat service
· Faster call response times
· Tailored support for vulnerable customers
Other commitments include:
· Further investment in supporting our customers to reduce their water use through water efficiency services and data analytics
· Achieving our wider environmental and social value targets
Central to this initiative is a commitment to externally report on our progress, which we’ll do annually, to be transparent and to build real trust around our commitment to this Charter.
Launch of customer vulnerability framework
We’ve also launched our customer vulnerability framework recognising that while managing customer vulnerability in a business-to-business context can be more challenging; we know that businesses are made up of people, some of which, at times, will find themselves in a vulnerable situation. We want to be equipped to provide the right support whenever it is needed.
To help us deliver this aim, we’ve taken the time to learn from other sectors that are further ahead in this space, and we’ve published a strategy outlining the actions we’re committed to taking. We’re currently rolling out vulnerability training to all our frontline colleagues and we’ve partnered with the National Support Network (NSN) to provide external signposting support to our customers when their needs go beyond what we can directly provide.
Most responsible service providers want to provide an excellent customer service, every time. And while things can sometimes go wrong, through a focus on continuous improvement, greater transparency and a genuine commitment to care, customer service levels can and will improve.
Support for your business
To find out more about how Business Stream can support your business to reduce water use and benefit from financial and environmental savings, please direct enquiries to [email protected]