Advocate Service Appreciation Culture: Fosters Better Services in HK
HONG KONG, Jan. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Culture of Service Appreciation in Hong Kong Survey Report 2013 was released today by The Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence (HKACE), the prestigious organisation fostering customer service excellence in Hong Kong, and renowned independent market research company Ipsos. According to the study, customers in Hong Kong are overall satisfied with the Services they receive.
The Culture of Service Appreciation in Hong Kong Survey Report 2013 provides an analysis of key trends of service appreciation in the Customer Services sector in Hong Kong, surveying over 1,000 customers and employees from the customer services sector.
Hong Kong: A well-developed customer services platform
Customers in Hong Kong are overall quite satisfied with the services they receive as more than half (53%) indicate that their last service experience was above their expectations. In addition, a vast majority (82%) say they have come across a positive service experience, while less than half (41%) have experienced a negative one in the past year.
As they are satisfied with the services they receive, customers are willing to show more appreciation to customer service providers in the coming year: 27% say they will share more against 6% who will share less appreciation in the future.
When asked why they intend to share more feedback, customers mention that they do so because they want to encourage staff to provide a better service (48%), to enable staff to enjoy being appreciated (44%) and to encourage the promotion of a service culture in Hong Kong (43%).
Varying expectations about service appreciation: The customer/employee divide
While a large majority of customers (73%) said they show more appreciation now than 12 months ago, only 39% of employees agree. One reason for this is that almost half of customers do not show any appreciation directly to staff when receiving good service: 37% will share it with others like friends and colleagues, while 12% won't share anything at all.
Customers who do not share positive feedback don't do so for various reasons. Half of them don't for cultural reasons: either they are simply not used to showing appreciation (32%) or they do not think it is necessary to show appreciation as they consider it the responsibility of staff to provide customer service (23%). Another 23% mentioned the absence of a dedicated channel to show their appreciation.
One key aspect of the current appreciation levels in Hong Kong is that increasing customer expectations have led to less appreciation of service providers. Today's "customer is king" culture means customers have become more demanding when it comes to the services they receive: Indeed 70% of customers say their increasing expectations from service providers have led to less appreciation.
Service Appreciation Creates WIN-WIN-WIN Situation for Customers, Servicing Employees and their Employers
The main challenge for the services industry in Hong Kong is to create the right conditions which will guarantee a triple win for customers, employees and their employers.
Building stronger relationships with customers greatly influences their loyalty toward brands: when getting a good service, 62% say they will return to the brand and 50% will recommend that brand to others.
More appreciation from customers brings extra motivation to employees, with 64% saying that they will further improve the service they provide to customers after being shown appreciation by them.
This is a win for employers too, having a motivated and therefore more efficient staff on one hand, and on the other hand, happy customers increasing share of spend with their businesses and promoting it to friends and colleagues.
Nurturing the service appreciation culture: Building up the foundations
Dealing with a competent and friendly staff are two key factors in motivating customers to show appreciation: 66% will do so when they consider that staff proactively address their problems, and 64% when staff is considered friendly and attentive.
Providing sufficient and convenient channels for appreciation is equally important as 23% customers opined that the absence of a dedicated channel to show their appreciation deterred their drive to show appreciation.
For employees, personal benefits also remain a critical factor of employee motivation: 79% feel motivated by opportunities for promotion and 73% by financial incentives.
Customer feedback and internal recognition also matter to employees: indeed while 47% of employees say a personal 'thank you' card or note from customers motivates them to perform better, an equal number (46%) feel motivated by a verbal appreciation from their manager in front of their colleagues. 20% of employees even state that they would prefer to receive recognition in a formal setting with a grand ceremony!
HKACE chairman Buston Chu concluded, "In order to achieve a win-win-win situation, we need to show appreciation to good service, to build up a positive atmosphere to service providers and organisations, all these can help to raise our service quality, subsequently bring better service experience to customers. Although the service qualities in Hong Kong have already met the international level, we should be aware that there is still room for improvement in service appreciation. HKACE recommends a continuous improvement of service quality in the industry, to develop a positive appreciation culture within the organization, to provide channels for customers to express their opinions effectively, and to encourage recognition of outstanding service. These will help to promote a healthy development in the service industry, and to attract a new generation of customer service providers."
