Singaporeans most demanding when it comes to good service

SINGAPOREANS are voting with their wallets when they are unhappy with poor customer service.

As many as two in three have not completed a purchase because of poor service in the past year, said the American Express 2017 Global Customer Service Barometer.

Their breaking point: Two or more bad experiences before they take their business elsewhere, and one in three will switch companies immediately.

This puts Singapore in the top spot, together with Mexico, when it comes to how consumers show their displeasure with poor service.

The survey also found that among Singaporeans, good customer service plays a significant part in their buying decisions. Still, three in five customers rank service only as the second most important factor when considering doing business with a company. Their top concern is still value for money.

And Singapore ranks third out of the nine countries surveyed where customers are willing to spend more with companies that provide excellent service, behind India and the United States.

Over seven in 10 are willing to spend an average of 16 per cent more because of excellent customer service.

Unfortunately, customers worldwide tend to talk more about their poor experiences than those that are good. More than one in three will always tell others about good service experiences, while nearly half will always share about poor ones.

The survey was completed online among a random sample of 1,000 consumers, aged 18 and older, in different markets such as United States, Canada, Mexico, Britain, Italy, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore.

The interview was conducted by Ebiquity between December 2016 and January.