Congratulations to American Express as a recipient of the 2010 Voice of the Customer Award from Forrester Research. Along with fellow winners CDW and Dell, American Express competed top organizations from all industries for the honor. You can read all about the American Express approach and results by downloading the award application form.
In the material they submitted they describe their programs, approach and their commitment to the transformation of service delivery.
An excerpt states “American Express began its reinvention of customer service with the recognition that great service doesn’t come down to what the Company thinks about its performance internally. It’s all about what the customer thinks after every interaction. To make this approach a reality, American Express retired traditional call center metrics to focus on “Recommend to a Friend.” The Company also took its customer care professionals off the clock – letting the customer decide how long they wanted to spend on the call.
Overall, American Express aligned the U.S. World Service organization, from its front line customer care professionals to its senior-most leadership, around the Recommend to a Friend metric. The Company also plans to implement this metric across the global organization.”
They also present the business impact they have experienced as a result of their efforts, including:
- An increase of more than 10% in Recommend to a Friend scores.
- An 8-10% lift in the Cardmember’s spend, and
- Dramatic reductions in employee attrition
They also outline the tools they use and offer some insights from their experiences. They offer that the four key recommendations from lessons learned are:
- Take care of your employees
- The customer’s voice is key
- Great service is about relationships, not transactions, and
- Hire the will–teach the skill
Thank you to Forrester for recognizing the importance of rewarding excellence in this key area of customer service. We’ll be talking about all the winners shortly. Today our spotlight shines on American Express. Congratulations from the CCNG Magnet Program and the entire CCNG network on your achievement and the 2010 VOC Award! Well done!