Yesterday we thought we remembered a survey that said if you mess up a customer’s service experience, then fix it, they’ll come back 2.5 times more loyal.

Actually, in addition to not recalling the survey, and forgetting that we already linked to it earlier this week, we miscombined two separate pieces of information from The Red Tape Chronicles writeup,

1. “Companies that improve their customer service experiences find consumers become immediately loyal — they are 2.5 times more likely to buy again from the same company.”

and

2. “[C]onsumers who have a problem and enjoy a positive customer service experience are actually more loyal than customers who buy a product and never have to call the firm looking for help.”

So while it was found that loyalty increased after problem-fixing increased, it’s not true that it increased by a factor of 2.5.

Here’s the actual source survey, “Superior Customer Service Capabilities: Key Factors in the Journey to High Performance” [PDF]

Talk about a brain hiccup. Thanks to commenter bluwapadoo for the spot. — BEN POPKEN

(Photo: annehelmond)

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