What Sky TV’s service teaches banks

There are many examples of bad service and few of great service, but when you
do find great service you might write about it and when you get bad service you
definitely talk about it. That is why various studies say that if a customer has
a bad experience they will tell four of their friends about it on average,
whilst a customer who complains and has a good resolution will tell five of
their friends.

There's a message in there somewhere, and if you like facts and figures of
this nature, a Wharton study in January 2006 found that:

• The chances of a smooth experience are only 50:50, with half of all retail
  customers finding at least one problem when purchasing items;
• The retailer may be the last to know as shoppers experiencing problems are
  more than five times as likely to tell a friend or colleague about it than to
  contact the company;
• Each one will tell an average of 4.1 people about their bad experience;
• Their word does carry weight as almost half of shoppers have avoided a
  particular shop because of someone else's negative experience;
• Bad experiences are not easily forgotten, with almost half feeling that
  problems will be repeateed, and bad shopping experiences erode loyalty; and
• 'Disloyal' attitudes can have wide spread consequences as customers
  revealing the lowest levels of loyalty will talk to the largest number of
  friends or colleagues about the problems they encountered.

So here are three examples of service. Two are good and one is bad.

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