This document describes the services of a research agency dedicated to improving customer complaint handling. They conduct research to understand the customer complaint experience from the customer perspective. Their research incorporates measures of customer effort, staff performance, and emotional impact. They use this data to map the customer complaint journey and identify opportunities to reduce customer effort and improve complaint resolution, which can enhance customer loyalty and retention. Their goal is to help clients understand how improving the complaint experience can positively impact business objectives and customer perceptions.

1. A RESEARCH AGENCY DEDICATED TO
IMPROVING COMPLAINT HANDLING
PERFORMANCE, DEVELOPING THE
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND ENHANCING
CUSTOMER LOYALTY

2. “We pick companies because of
their products,
but we often leave them because
of their service failures.”
Source: “The Effortless Experience”, Matthew Dixon et al, 2013

3. Our Research Goal:
To help clients better understand the
complaint experience delivered to their
customers …
through feedback elicited directly from
customers!

4. Incorporates client business objectives,
the latest regulatory expectation and
commercial realities …
so as to ensure research results are
presented in the correct context!
Our Research Approach:

5. Include customer journey mapping and
storytelling, aiding understanding and
recall …
more importantly, to allow our clients
to make informed business decisions
and drive positive change!
Our Research Output:

6. Ask yourself:
Do you know which elements of the
complaints experience you currently
deliver have the biggest effect on
making your customers more (or less)
loyal?

7. THE COMPLAINTS EXPERIENCE AND
CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Customer perception of the complaint experience influences
future intentional behavior and can impact loyalty
Three critical questions to consider:
1. To what extent does your complaints handling performance impact
customer loyalty?
2. What are the key actions your Complaints Operations should take
to retain (and drive) customer loyalty?
3. Do you understand how improving your complaints handling
performance can enhance customer loyalty, while also reducing
operational costs?
6
Ask yourself: Does your organization fully understand the impact the
quality of the complaints experience delivered has on customer loyalty?

8. UNDERSTANDING COMPLAINTS FROM THE
CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE
We use research to collate feedback from customers who
had a recent complaint experience with your organisation
Three core areas covered:
1. Questions about the customer’s experience with the staff they
interacted with
2. Questions about the amount of energy or number of actions the
customer had to exert during the complaint experience
3. Questions about your organization’s ability to deliver a positive
complaint experience to your customers.
Ask yourself: Do you understand what your customers perceive to have
really happened when they interacted with your organization? How
well do they think you really did in terms of resolving their complaint?
7

9. Complaint Nature &
Channel
Complaint status
Ease of raising a
complaint*
Staff capabilities
Ease of resolving a
complaint*
Time to resolve Complaint outcome
Outcome
communication
(incl. Ombudsman
rights)
Changes in brand
perception
Impact on Customer
Loyalty
Demographics
Identification of
Vulnerable
Customers
*Our approach covers the end-to-end customer journey, measuring Effort and
establishing Emotions from key interactions. We then plot all these variables via
Customer Journey Mapping so as to provide clients with an ‘as is’ picture of typical
customer experiences when complaining.
EXAMPLE:
QUESTIONNAIRE “FLOW” (I.E. STRUCTURE)

10. CORE #1: MEASURING STAFF PERFORMANCE
We look to understand how well your staff handled the
customer complaint
Some of the key ‘variables’ include:
Ask yourself: As well as measuring staff abilities, do you also measure
other ‘variables’ which directly relate to the complaint experience, e.g.
correct identification and recording of the customer complaints?
9
Correctly
identified the
complaint
Correctly
identified action
was required
Had knowledge
of how to
resolve
Actively listened
to customer
Set customer
expectations
Delivered on
promises

11. CORE #2: UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER
EFFORT
We look to understand how easy (or difficult) your customers
found it to resolve their complaint
Some of the key ‘variables’ include:
Ask yourself: Do you currently measure ‘effort required’ from the
customer perspective? Do you know the customer’s emotional state
when first raising their complaint (as well as the emotional impact of
their exertions)?
10
Ease of raising
complaint
% First Contact
Resolution
Number of
contacts
required (if not
FCR)
Number of
transfers
Repeating
information
Time to resolve

12. CORE #3: MEASURING EMOTIONAL IMPACT
We establish customer emotions felt as a result of company
interactions, establishing Advocacy vs Detractor drivers.
Some of the key emotions captured include:
Advocate
Cluster
11
Happy
Pleased
Recommend
Cluster
Attention
Cluster
Detractor
Cluster
Trusted
Valued
Interested
Indulged
Frustrated
Dissapointed

13. HOW WE MEASURE CUSTOMER EFFORT
We use a 7pt scale to measure Customer Effort against a
series of Agree vs. Disagree statements
[Company] made it easy for me to resolve my complaint?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Somewhat
Disagree
Neither /
Nor
Somewhat
Agree
Agree
Strongly
Agree
PREVIOUSLY:
How much effort did you personally have to exert to
resolve your complaint?
1 2 3 4 5
Very Low
Effort
Low Effort
Neither /
Nor
High Effort
Very High
Effort
12

14. EXAMPLE CUSTOMER EFFORT QUESTIONS
We use a wide range of Agree vs. Disagree statements to
help build a clearer picture of Customer Effort
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements:
1. [Company] made it easy for me to raise my complaint
2. It was easy to reach the right member of staff who could handle
my complaint
3. The member of staff seemed to be very knowledgeable in
complaint handling
4. [Company] made it easy for me to resolve my complaint
5. It took less time than I expected to resolve my complaint
13

15. LEVERAGING CUSTOMER EFFORT FEEDBACK
WHERE CUSTOMERS DISAGREE WITH STATEMENTS, WE CAN
CAPTURE, CODE & ANALYSE VERBATIM
▪ Follow-up ‘negative’ scores with request for ‘solution’ suggestions,
e.g.
▪ We then code the verbatim and start to analyse so as to identify
common themes
▪ Understanding themes (i.e. suggested pain relief) can help identify
opportunities for improvement and guide where customer effort
might be reduced
What could [Company] do to make resolving
complaints easier for its customers?
14

16. We use Customer Journey Mapping to
visualise the customer complaint
experience, allow you to understand
where opportunities to improve exist,
and how current interactions impact
customers emotions and intentional
behaviour

17. MAPPING THE COMPLAINT JOURNEY
WE PLOT CUSTOMER EFFORT ALONGSIDE EMOTIONAL
IMPACT OF INTERACTIONS / TOUCHPOINTS
16

18. Ask yourself:
Do you understand the relationship
between Customer Effort and Customer
Loyalty (and the commercial
implications for your business)?

19. EFFORT RESOLVING INFLUENCES LOYALTY
In recent research conducted for an insurance provider, we found that
customer effort had a significant impact on the customer’s future
intentional behavior …
18
All
Complainants
32%
Easy
48%
43%
38%
Neither / Nor
9%
4%
29%
Difficult
2%
3%
LIKELIHOOD
TO REMAIN
LIKELIHOOD TO
RECOMMEND
EASY OR
DIFFICULT TO
RESOLVE
Base: 495 insurance complainants, October – November 2016

20. INTENDED LOYALTY INFLUENCES YOUR
BOTTOM LINE
For the purposes of illustrating how Customer Effort’s translates
to ‘revenue at risk’, we have used our client’s insurance ‘book’
and average insurance premium per annum
19
*Assumes 75,000 reportable complaints represents 1/5th of total unhappy customers – as 4/5ths don’t complain
** Source: Association of British Insurers
Easy to
Resolve
Neither / Nor
Difficult to
Resolve
*Total Population of Unhappy Customers (n) 375,000
Easy / Difficult to Resolve Complaints (%) 32% 38% 29%
Calculated Population by Ease / Difficulty to
Resolve (n)
120,000
(375k x 32%)
142,500
(375k x 38%)
108,750
(375k x 29%)
Likelihood to Switch (%) 24% 68% 85%
Calculated Population Likely to Switch (n) 28,800 96,900 92,438
**Average Motor Insurance Premium per
Annum (£)
£788
Revenue at Risk from Customer Defection –
per Annum (£)
£22,694,400 £76,357,200 £72,841,144

21. Ask yourself:
Does your existing customer research
include Customer Effort?
Does it also measure the Emotions felt
by your customers?
Does it visualise both Effort and Emotion
on Customer Journey Maps so you
understand where opportunities for
improvement exist?

22. RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
Our clients have different complaints objectives, so we
deploy bespoke research approaches to meet those needs
21
Face-to-Face Telephone Online Mobile Postal
QUALITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE
OUTPUTS:
(Include but
not limited
to)
CUSTOMER
JOURNEY MAPS
INFOGRAPHICS
VIDEO
ANIMATIONSTORYTELLING
KEY DRIVER
ANALYSIS

23. WE HOPE YOU FIND THIS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
HELPFUL TO UNDERSTAND WHERE REDUCTIONS IN
CUSTOMER EFFORT CAN LEAD TO IMPROVED COMPLAINT
HANDLING PERFORMANCE AND ENHANCE CUSTOMER
LOYALTY AND RETENTION EFFORTS.
SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WISH TO DISCUSS, PLEASE DO
NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT THE RESEARCH LOCKER.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU
SCOTT DAVIDSON
HEAD OF RESEARCH
SCOTT@THERESEARCHLOCKER.CO.UK
07718 646 463