Google Learns a Lesson – And Not a Moment Too Soon

Google may the one of the world’s largest companies, however their previous customer service has left a lot to be desired. With thousands of people having used the Google Adwords tool in order to promote their business, Google has given their customer service a revamp with a new initiative aimed at giving simple and straightforward help and advice to customers. Here we look at the new initiative and why customer service is key, regardless of the size of your business.

Google’s Previous Customer Service
Despite being one of the biggest names in business of the past decade and having an enormous amount of money, Google has gained a reputation of having notoriously bad customer service. Service rating site, CustomerServiceScoreboard.com, holds Google at an extremely low 642 out of 712 businesses rated. Based on 597 ratings and out of a possible 200 points, Google managed a poor 20.48, making them one of the lowest rated companies on the site. They were then scored out of ten on factors including: issue resolution, friendliness, product knowledge and reachability and unfortunately Google did not score more than 2.7 on any of them. This shocking result has gained them the ‘Terrible’ title on the site and seems to echo the general regard customers and users alike have for the search engine giant.

The New Initiative
It seems as though the message has finally made it to the top, with an upheaval of current customer service techniques and the introduction of an entirely new way of communicating with customers, in real time. Deepak Khandelwal, formerly in charge of customer care at management consulting firm McKinsey, was pulled in to lead the change in how Google approaches customer needs.

It appears as though this change in management, teamed with Google’s new approach to problem solving, has resulted in a massive rise in customer satisfaction. With the increase in support actions that can be accessed in real-time Google has more than doubled their score on their own customer service survey. The previous percentage of real-time support actions being performed was just 11%, however the new initiative sees that number at 88%. Mr Khandelwal’s approach is slowly working away at the poor reputation

The Importance of Customer Care
Customer care is key in building lasting relationships with clients and seeing your business reach its full potential. Looking to Google’s management of its customers may not be the best lesson, however their embrace of social culture and their realisation of how important real-time support is, is something to be revered.

Looking towards the future of your business involves understanding how to give the customers the care and attention they need to trust the business and therefore keep using it. This starts with the proper training and motivation of a company’s sales team who naturally face a whole host of challenges such as these before they even start the job. Balancing out chasing potential with encouraging an enjoyment of the job customer service representatives do is no mean feat...but regardless, it's a vital task to try.

Google’s incredible wealth has led many to question why it has taken them so long to invest in a more effective customer service regime, but now seems to be as good a time as any to ensure that longstanding customers are kept happy and a changed reputation generates new ones - nice one Google! For now...