What India Inc. needs: Customer Service

Needs to offer, that is. Cakewalk, considering the gazillion call centers operated out of India, right? Wrong. It is a culture question, not infra.

Take another type of B2C interaction - Advertising. The following came after I expressed to Sainath Saraban what I thought of his review of an Airtel 3G TV commercial. I felt the ad was futile simply because it did not focus on the product’s USP. But Saraban told me the ad was part of a campaign so it ‘works’. Told him I disagreed, and he said:

Not sure if his last statement meant to acknowledge my thought or to simply shut me up. Anyway.

A childhood memory to boot. My grandmom until few years ago preferred purchasing fresh ground coffee powder from a vendor whose store was in the vicinity in the past. We moved homes to a different locality but she continued to purchase coffee powder from the same store. It wasn’t about the quest for perfect filter coffee taste, it wasn’t the price, It was the emotional connect that mattered to her the most.

Back to the ad, Mohan Agashe looking for an old acquaintance over Airtel’s efficient 3G network should have been the case, but seemed vis-à-vis social networking. As a reviewer I really was looking for Airtel in that facebook commercial. My takeaway from the ad is effective access of facebook, now on mobile networks. I would rather expect the enabler, the product, the brand to hog better part of that limelight. Many options to choose from – Idea, Docomo, Airtel, etc and how these compare with each other, the number game that a customer may factor in would be a discussion for another day.

Going by Saraban’s logic, Airtel would probably hold its own (and big) in the newly introduced 3G market segment by simply creating that connect. Of course, customer loyalty, quality, pricing – all remaining competitive. I must admit from my own experience that emotional connect elates a brand no less. This leads me into thinking about favoritism as a concept. How does one favorite a gupchup bandi (Pani puri stalls for the non Hyderabadis) or a Biryani joint? The taste, one may argue. Agreed. How does one favorite a grocery store? The distance, one may say. How about the Barber? Job well done. This Q&A activity can go on. In a random sample of individuals, each person would have a list of favorite vendors and this set of preferences differs from person to person. So really, it’s a many:many relationship. What I am getting at is each vendor is not an overall favourite; they just create that connect with certain few consumers who then become regulars in spite of access to other convenient options.

Advertisements are only a method of reaching a broader audience. Like any other, a commercial viewed/heard or an online banner ad clicked through does improve brand image, but it’s only the later portion of engagement that according to me seals the deal. Single purchase is seldom goal of a campaign, as much it may be about regularizing customers. Given that branding as a theory has changed from promoting universal appeal to tailoring the shout-out based on media used, target audience, product line up, geographies, yada, yada, yada, I feel it is really controlled by the consumer based on how they perceive it. So how to create a loyal customer base (that directly or indirectly generates revenue for your product/service) is directly and obviously dependent on how customers feel about the brand. They come back if they’re happy with the product and additionally the customer experience and satisfaction which help build that hunky dory relationship.

Does good customer service help always? Depends, according to me. If the goal simply is lead conversion that affects the bottom line, I guess excellence in customer service does not always ‘help’. If it is about forging a relationship so the customer will come back sooner or later to make a purchase or get one other to make that purchase , it ‘does help’, at the very least in spreading the prophecy of the brand. My previous blog spoke about the purchasing power of Indians and myriad pockets waiting to tap that money. Reuters’ recent article that Asia's wealthy park cash in cars, homes, art and wine and not so much in investments is only good news for the retail industry.

Seen from a 10,000ft view, what an irony that a country that is called the engine of ‘good customer service and satisfaction’ to customers all over the world through its gazillion call centers, has a pretty superficial outlook towards customer service for its own citizens?! For all that you know of a conventional Indian corporation, there is significant red tape to cut through, procrastination unparalleled, lack of a structured operational mechanism, petty politics or simply no enforcement of rules. Of course a lot of it is changing with corporations now being put on the world map, but we're not quite there yet. Good customer service is a culture that an individual must imbibe, a company must imbibe and eventually must spread to other retailers, service providers and any business that has anything to do with customer interaction. With customers taking to social media and internet forums to review their experience, companies are proactively approaching customers to have a chat. Good first step, by few.

India has begun browsing streaming videos over 3G network. It’s no surprise that India’s e-commerce market in 2011 is expected to hit Rs. 46,000 Crore. Spending power is not a permanent virtue of a country, but what may help sustain a relationship between a business and its customer is the love, or customer service in another language. The penny pinching Indian customer is going to find 5 options for anything they wish to purchase. While the product USP is one thing that appeals to them, it’s the plusses that is going to matter in the long term. Building a brand so the customers themselves can market will be an ideal goal to chase. Until next time.