Customers not feeling the Christmas spirit

A Customer Radar study released this week found shoppers are more likely to be disgruntled in the lead up to Christmas, with customer satisfaction scores falling from mid-November, and dropping sharply to a year-low in mid-December.    

From July to December 2016, customer feedback company Customer Radar studied the levels of customer satisfaction from small to large businesses at 1,500 locations across the country.  

Mat Wylie, CEO and Founder of Customer Radar, says, “It was interesting to see people expressed different reasons for why they were dissatisfied depending on where they lived.  
“We found that city-based customers become significantly less satisfied than small town customers. On average, customer satisfaction scores for city stores drop 5.5% over the Christmas period, while town stores drop by only 3.2%.   

“It was also interesting that in the larger cities people were more likely to complain about the speed of service, where as small town customers were more likely to be upset if the floor staff weren’t friendly or helpful enough,” he says.   

Auckland retailers experienced the worst customer satisfaction scores, dropping to the lowest point at Christmas time of anywhere else in New Zealand.   
Christchurch shoppers appear to show significantly higher levels of customer satisfaction compared with the other major cities across the year. However, Cantabrians experience the biggest drop in customer satisfaction scores over the Christmas period, dropping down to a similar level as the other main cities.  

Jon Hassall, General Manager of the popular Muffin Break chain says, “Many of our stores are in the centre of the mall, so we definitely see a lot of tired customers who have been shopping for three hours or more and it’s obvious they’re feeling the pressure. In previous years’ people have taken their stress out on our staff and are definitely quick to complain about service times.  

“We have been working with Customer Radar over the past four months to get feedback from customers to make improvements. This has actually meant a lift in customer service scores recently as we have gone in and implemented changes to fix any issues customers are having.  
“It’s definitely been helpful for us coming into this busy period to take a proactive approach to our customer service and to ensure our people are ready to offer warm and friendly service, especially when customers are feeling the stress at Christmas time.”