Published on the 19/03/2014 | Written by Newsdesk

People will pay up to 14 percent more for what they perceive as goods or services supported by good customer service – it’s why companies are scurrying to trumpet their success in the field…

Just hours after Frost & Sullivan announced that Telstra had won the category of best consumer experience in telecommunications, the company unleashed a direct mail campaign in Australia announcing its success in the awards and spruiking a new internet bundle.

Customer service, once considered a nice-to-have by many enterprises, is now recognised as a business imperative with consumers proving increasingly likely to switch suppliers after a negative experience, or even a report of a negative experience on social media. According to research firm Fifth Quadrant, consumers are also willing to pay a premium for improved customer service whether that’s delivered online or in person.

Fifth Quadrant’s Australian Market Customer Experience Strategy Report 2014 noted that on average consumers would spend 14 percent more on a product or service in return for consistent and effective customer services.

The corollary according to Chris Kirby, director of customer experience research is that; “Nine in 10 Australians will switch to a competitor because they have had a poor experience. Eight in ten will actively advise friends and family to avoid companies who provide a poor experience, and 77 percent will not purchase again from that company.”

When it comes to telecommunications Telstra and Optus seem to be sitting pretty.

According to the Frost & Sullivan awards for Best Practices in Customer Experience which were announced this week, while Optus led in terms of perception regarding in-store telecommunications experience, Telstra was the leader for best customer experience in telecommunications which translated into an extraordinary level of customer loyalty with 86 percent of survey respondents saying they would stay with the telco.

Frost & Sullivan’s awards focused purely on three sectors – car, banking and communications. There is however another opportunity for companies in other sectors to seek recognition for their customer experience with Fifth Quadrant this week announcing that it was seeking nominations to identify Australia’s best customer experience companies.

Nominations are open for the next four weeks and can be made at www.bestcxcompanies.com.

A shortlist of 50 customer experience companies will be announced in May with the final list of 30 released in September.