New Zealand consumers have no time for awful customer experiences, with 80 per cent willing to withdraw loyalty.
The iStart-Microsoft Customer Experience Survey showed nearly three-quarters of us tell at least one person when we have a bad experience.
Microsoft New Zealand customer and partner experience director Jan Ferguson said spreading the
word about negative experiences is not new, but the speed at which businesses can lose customers is increasing now that a third of us also vent our frustrations via social media.
"The survey shows businesses need to be listening to consumers and providing positive engagements with customers, as poor performance will result in many customers voting with their feet."
She said the challenge for businesses was to "get it right" every time but, if they do not, they need to take notice, respond and fix whatever was wrong.
"And all this needs to be done in a very short timeframe."
The survey showed consumers felt most New Zealand businesses were performing adequately, with more than 90 per cent of respondents having positive customer experiences "often or always".
"The survey highlights the good job that most New Zealand businesses are doing ensuring the customer's needs are met in a quick, efficient manner, while also identifying some sectors that are struggling," said Ferguson.
Consumers and business leaders were asked how various sectors were performing for satisfaction. Banking, tourism and retail scored the highest. Government departments, insurance and transport ranked the lowest.
More than 170 took part in the survey, which highlighted a disparity of opinion between business and consumers.
Nearly 80 per cent of business leaders surveyed believed New Zealand businesses had an "average to poor" approach to customer satisfaction compared to the positive consumer perspective.
Almost 95 per cent of business decision-makers agreed customer satisfaction was key to growth and success, but only 38 per cent actively undertook research to determine if their customers were satisfied.
Ferguson said some companies went to great lengths to research and survey customer satisfaction and feedback, but did not always translate this into changes or new initiatives.
"Even when research is done, where we seem to fall down, as a business community, is analysing the feedback and information we get and making actual changes to our customer processes, products or service itself."
