Only one in 20 customers trust blue chip Australian companies and just
one in 40 believe the companies trust them, new research has found.
The Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals today releases a Consumer
Emotions Study, which surveyed 4000 Australians about their experiences
with nine blue chip organisations.
While customers were generally satisfied with the companies, many blue
chips were not delivering the brand's marketing promise in their
operations, said Wayne Croker, managing director of one of the research
firms, Evalue.
"There's clearly a difference between the goals, the language, the
measures of the marketing department and the measures of operations and
customer service," Mr Croker said.
His co-researcher, consumer psychologist Michael Edwardson, said
consumers' emotions about companies were usually developed from direct
experience rather than through marketing and branding.
"You actually find out what the experiences are and it doesn't seem
quite as important as, say, the Saatchi & Saatchi lovemarks," he
said.
Lovemarks are the brainchildren of Saatchi's global chief Kevin
Roberts, who believes a brand can earn "the power of love" created through
"life-long emotional connections".
Although SOCAP would not name the nine Australian companies included in
its study - as they paid to receive tailored results - two were telecoms,
two utilities and the others were automotive, aviation, financial
services, homes services and government services operations.
The researchers found only 14 per cent of customers were satisfied with
responses to queries and complaints. But they also said that the emotion
of disappointment was particularly troublesome as it was difficult to
detect or manage but could slowly eat away at loyalty.
The study uncovered a proportion of consumers who stayed loyal to
brands even though they did not like them - either because they said there
were no better alternatives or they were committed to contracts.
"You have customers that tick the bottom end of the satisfaction scale
and they tell you they are satisfied," Mr Croker said.
The research, therefore, specified the emotions customers said they
experienced, rather than just levels of satisfaction. It found emotions
such as "satisfied", "secure", "impressed", "pleased", "contented" and
"indifferent" to be the most common.
