In Hong Kong’s service industry, social media could be the place to watch to see what is being done right and what need to be changed, also it can be utilised to identify individuals worthy of further praise and reward. One thing’s for sure—no customer-facing business can afford to ignore what Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, OpenRice, Trip Adviser and more saying about them and miss out on the chance to use these avenues to their advantage.
Customers aged below 25 are, perhaps understandably, the more likely to respond to exceptional service using social media than by sharing feedback to friends or colleagues, as found by The Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence (HKACE) in their Culture of Service Appreciation in Hong Kong Survey Report 2014 in partnership with Ipsos. Despite this, they were found to be the most likely to give recommendations to others based on service received. The results were compiled from the responses 1,500 customers, employers and employees in the service industry.
The Report also revealed that not only are this age group the most willing to post a complaint following unacceptable service (53% against 28% on average), over one third have already done do, against a quarter on average.
The most demanding of Hong Kong’s customer groups is those aged 25 to 34, with only 43% agreeing that the level of service they received exceeded expectations. Perhaps surprisingly, given their proximity to the younger age group, the group favours direct human interactions when giving praise or recommendations—63% share about their experience with friends. Whilst they may be the hardest group to please, they show the most loyalty with 65% saying they are likely to return to a store again if satisfied so once engaged may show the greatest return on investment.
The quietest of the surveyed groups was found to be those aged 35 to 44. They are least likely to interact with brands to voice their satisfaction or lack thereof. Only 38% reported wanting to encourage the promotion of the service culture or voice out positive feedback in Hong Kong, against 45% on average and 52% for those aged below 25.
Those aged over 45 were found to be the most satisfied, with three in five rating quality of the service they received as beyond expectations against an average of 51%.
The best motivation to give good service was regarded by the majority to be financial incentives (80%) and opportunities for promotion (70%). In the whole service sector, 74% of employees were found to have received some form of customer appreciation and just over a third believe the service appreciation culture has improved from the previous year, with 47% believing it has remained stable and 16% thinking it has worsened.
James Tong, Chairman, HKACE commented, “This year’s survey findings are extremely encouraging, with high customer satisfaction and service appreciation scores. New strategies to engage with different age segments and to accelerate appreciation or great service will allow for improved employee motivation, customer satisfaction and organisational performance.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
