Measuring Customer Service Effectiveness

Citation

Cromb, D. (2005), "Measuring Customer Service Effectiveness", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 593-594. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730510624629

The author positions this book as a practical guide to measuring external and internal service equality, based primarily on her own experiences as a consultant to both the public and private sectors.

The author makes the valid point that the quality of external service delivery is reflective of the quality of internal service delivery. She uses the paradigm of the Service Profit Chain (SPC) as a model for measurement. The SPC thinking maintains that there are direct and strong relationships between profit, growth, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, the value of goods and services delivered to customers, and employee capability, satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity. This book demonstrates ways of quantifying these relationships.

There is a logical sequence of chapters, comprising: the business case for measurement; preparing to measure customer service; qualitative customer service measurement methods; measuring internal service quality; benchmarking; analysing and communicating results; and acting on results. Ms Cook has authored several other books regarding aspects of customer management, evidence that her practical approach has struck a chord with practitioners. There are plenty of charts, tables, etc. to illustrate points and to provide practical examples, and she is not afraid to use established tools to aid measurement and analysis, e.g. SPC, balanced scorecard, root cause analysis, force field analysis, etc.

A little care needs to be taken with some of her absolutes. For example, “it is only truly ‘delighted’ customers who remain loyal to the organisation” is mostly correct, but even customers too lazy to change service providers will give an organisation a degree of loyalty and revenue and there is research to show that even “delighted” customers defect. And not all loyal customers are actually profitable customers either. There is also established research that shows that the underlying theory of the Service Profit Chain itself has not held true in all organisations, although it remains a fine tool as a basis for analysis and assessment. But these are only minor quibbles.

I am impressed with the thoroughness of detail in each chapter. The pros and cons of alternate approaches are often discussed, such as the choice of different response options scales (1‐5, 1‐6, 1‐10). Enough samples and examples have been provided in the book sufficient for an organisation to undertake basic measurement and analysis without reference to any other source. There are also self‐assessment checklists throughout the book to critique your own organisation and its current approaches and practices.

Essentially, the content of the book is presented in a ready‐to‐use format and, as a one stop shop, the book hits the mark. There is very good and comprehensive information on why you should measure customer service effectiveness, several different approaches to measurement, guidance on how to analyse results, and suggestions on how to achieve management/staff buy‐in and how to take action on the results obtained. It is pleasing to note that the book does not take a simplistic approach to satisfaction alone: the concept of customer loyalty over customer satisfaction and the concept of measuring from the customer's perspective rather than the provider's perspective influence the content.

The author provides brief coverage of other tools with which to assess approaches and practices, such as ISO 9000, Six Sigma, and a couple of the national excellence frameworks. Curiously, the well established and widely used tool SERVQUAL does not rate a mention.

The target audience for this book is practitioners, and you will get your money's worth. I'm impressed enough by the content and presentation of this book to have a look at the four other books by Ms Cook, listed (with many others) in the Recommended Reading section.