Racecar driver Mario Andretti once said that “if everything seems under control you are not going fast enough.” His words are appropriate for automobile racing and apply to customer experience delivery as well.
Tidio recently conducted a study of more than 1,000 online shoppers and confirmed a trend regarding the importance of delivery speed. Specifically, they note:
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world economy in a variety of ways. For one, it has significantly accelerated the process of digital transformation.
Some of the most important customer experience statistics and insights that our study revealed include:
Faster customer service is expected to be a standard, not a luxury
44% of online customers believe that the average response time from customer service should be below 5 minutes (but they are not likely to pay extra for it).
Poor visuals and slow websites make a negative customer experience for younger shoppers
More than 55% of online shoppers aged 18-24 think poor product photos and slow website loading times are intolerable. They find these aspects much more frustrating than other customer segments.
The Tidio study also found shoppers of the future to be more analytical than prior generations, focused on the social actions of businesses, and more judgmental about the overall online experience including ease of navigation and speed of product delivery.
Service speed is also relevant to stakeholders in addition to customers. For example, in my recently released book Stronger Through Adversity, Katie Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Feeding America, shared how philanthropists want their charitable giving to have an immediate impact. Katie noted:
“Jeff Bezos reached out to us wanting to gift $100 million to our member food banks if we could assure him that the money would feed communities within 41 days of receipt—half that time could be for planning and the rest for distribution. Accepting this generous gift and distributing the food was wholly aligned with our mission, but accepting it also meant we would need to work at an incredible pace. Significant disruptions in the food supply chain would make this task even more challenging. Before we said yes to the offer, our team reached out to our network leader’s council, and they said, ‘Let’s get this done, and do it faster than expected.’”
Katie concluded by noting
“Within eight days of receiving the gift, the funds were deployed to Feeding America member food banks. To make that possible, people worked day and night in support of our mission. They created a data-driven process that directed those resources to where the need was greatest. They developed an elaborate set of guidelines to help food banks use the resources in accord with the donor’s wishes and their communities’ needs.”
Generosity, inclusiveness, mission, and speed are a remarkable combination. Undeniably, when service speed fuels an organization’s mission, it has a lasting and increasingly important impact on all business stakeholders.
Inspired by Tidio’s research and Feeding America’s resourcefulness here’s this week’s challenge questions:
- Is your average response time from customer service below 5 minutes?
- How quickly does your website load? How easy is it to navigate your site and how quickly are your products delivered?
- Compared to Feeding America, how primed is your organization to take urgent action, and how mission-focused, inclusive, and generous are you?
