Indians rate customer service quality as top factor while choosing businesses

In the dynamic economic environment in India, businesses should focus on not just providing a good value for money product, but an equally excellent customer service experience to attract and retain customers.

According to the findings of the American Express 2017 Global Customer Service Barometer, 84% Indian consumers say the quality of customer service is very important when they’re deciding to become or remain a customer.

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This significance of customer experience can also be observed from the willingness of 86% of Indians to spend more with a company providing excellent customer service experience; much ahead of United States (70%), UK (59%), Singapore (72%) & Japan (33%).
In addition, Indian customers talk much more about their positive experience (59%), compared to their counterparts in any other country Mexico (43%), United States (43%), Hong Kong (19%) and Canada (38%).

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The American Express® 2017 Global Customer Service Barometer survey has been conducted across 9 countries - India, United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. The survey also reveals:

Happy customers are brand ambassadors

On average, 96% of Indians tell 38 people about their good experiences at least sometimes, but 83% are vocal about their bad experiences, telling an average of 31 people. Indians are way ahead than their market counterparts when it comes to sharing their good customer service experience on social media. Indian consumers post more positive customer services experiences on social media than negative experiences (73% vs. 47%).

For many Indians, their recent positive customer experience was because the representative was pleasant to speak to (57%) and knowledgeable (55%). For a successful Customer Care Professional, efficiency (36%) and consultative approach to providing a resolution (19%) emerge as the most important attributes.

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At the same time, what irks them the most in negative service interactions is the time it took to resolve their query (49%) and the inability of the representative to answer their questions (32%). Indians appreciate when a service professional suggests an additional service or upgrade (76%) based on their stated needs or history of the Company – leading amongst their counterparts in Hong Kong (60%), Singapore (56%), United States (43%) and Japan (45%).