Businesses ride out downturn by giving customers a voice

An innovative text-based customer feedback system is giving businesses a vital opportunity to improve their service offering.

As humble Kiwis, we generally don't like to complain about a bad service experience, but we're more than happy to relay the experience to scores of friends and family.

Christchurch marketing company Fried is set to change all this with Texsys - a new customer feedback system that allows customers to immediately text their opinions about a service or product. The service provider can then log in to their personalised page on a secure website to view the feedback in real-time and reply if they wish.

In tough economic times, it's never been more important for business operators to see the service they are offering through their customer's eyes says Fried Director, Adam Hutchinson.

"With the popularity of texting increasing an exponential 20 percent each year since 2000, the mobile phone is a great way to let your customers voice their feedback, and give businesses the chance to provide a service people will come back for."

Lincoln University Senior Lecturer Michael Clemes, a specialist in services marketing, says only one in 12 New Zealanders will complain after a bad service experience using current methods.

"People are reluctant to complain because of the confrontational aspect of it and they may not want to cause a fuss, yet they will go and tell between seven and ten friends. It's important to 'catch' these people as soon as possible and put in place processes to stop these customers from being lost."

He says Texsys offers the opportunity to gather feedback, establish faults in service, as well as look at constructive changes to a business.

The Texsys system, with patent pending, is set to revolutionise the customer experience for any service-based business in New Zealand, and has been welcomed by operators around the country.

"Customer feedback is vitally important at any time and this system provides a fantastic way to put things right while helping us improve all aspects of our systems of service to our customers," says Lone Star Marketing Manager Cameron Tweedie.

Dux de Lux General Manager Ross Herrick says Texsys is innovative and has many advantages over current methods of collecting feedback, especially for the younger demographic that often don't bother filling in forms. And Wanganui Vet Services Director David Barton says Texsys has allowed them to reach a new group of customers they could never access with previous systems.

Hospitality Association of New Zealand National Operations Manager Scott Necklen says good service providers value both positive and negative feedback.

"So they know where to make improvements and strive toward creating the best possible experience for their customer."

For more information please contact:

Adam Hutchinson
Ph: 027 254 1118
adam@fried.co.nz