Study: Southerners more likely to register a complaint

According to a recent Customer Experience Impact Report by Harris Interactive on bad call experiences 80% of customers will go to competitors after a bad call--up from 68% in 2006.

As we all know, service is a significant differentiator for companies. Fifty-one percent of respondents say that outstanding service is the top reason they continue to do business with a company; and 60% say outstanding service is the top reason they recommend a company.

But an interesting breakdown in the report was the bad call experiences by geographic regions and the behavior associated with geography. For example:

Midwesterners are more likely to swear, feel their chest tighten, or get a headache

Westerners are more likely to never return to a company or post a negative blog entry or online review

Southerners are more likely to register a complaint or tell others and less likely to swear

Northeasterners are least likely to register a complaint, tell others, or post a blog entry or online review

The bottom line is, once again, service tops the list in terms of customer expectations and satisfaction, and is the determining factor in a customer's experience. No matter how your customers are going to react, your goal is to avoid bad call experience altogether.