A whopping 86% of people polled admitted to walking out of a retail store frustrated with having waited too long for service.
This same Martitz Research survey [1] found that 67% told others about their negative experience and 50% reported that they had posted something online about their negative experience.
What are these store managers thinking? Apparently, not about the following
- The lost sales opportunity, especially in a slowing economy.
- The wasted advertising and marketing costs to get the customers in the store, before they walked out.
- The high likelihood of lost future sales to those customers.
- The loss of potential sales to unknown customers who are influenced by negative word-of-mouth.
Obviously businesses cannot staff-up to handle unexpected increases in business. However, according to this study, even a little consideration for the customer's experience can pay big dividends.
- 87% of the people said they would increase their wait time if they felt compassion or apologies were offered.
- 67% would wait longer if they were updated on their status.
- 74% would stick around longer if they got a smile.
These results are about wait time in stores but there are much broader implications. As a society at large, people are experiencing a great deal of time stress and this pushes them out of their psychological comfort zone. As a consequence, it takes less to trigger behaviors that negatively impact businesses.
Don't just eliminate the frustration, aim elicit a little positive emotion. Remember, 74% would stick around longer for a smile.