A happy customer is a loyal customer

The software and technology industry is entering an exciting era. According to Forbes Magazine, the Technology Services sector is on track this year to see a net margin profit increase of more than 1.5% over 2015. In their annual study on the most profitable industries, Forbes found that exponential growth in Technology Services spurred the category to overtake the Finance market to become the second most profitable major industry behind Health Technology. Despite this success, the software and technology industry is now facing a critical problem: Customer loyalty.

Tech Industry Faces Customer Loyalty Crisis

A recent benchmarking report published by Net Promoter, which scores businesses on customer experience, recently gave the Software & Apps industry an extremely low Average NPSⓇ score of 19. A score at this level indicates that 81% of customers are at risk of leaving their current provider due to neutral or negative interactions, according to the Harvard Business Journal. By comparison, Department & Specialty Stores received a score of 58 and Cable/Satellite TV Service were given a score of 3.

A Harvard Business Review study of a leading pay television provider showed that a complex and disconnected customer experience created a negative impression. The case study revealed that the TV provider’s customers were generally satisfied at the beginning of their relationship, but that satisfaction level dropped more than 40% over the course of the journey. What happened?

Most interactions were positive and issue resolution was adequate, however, as HBR describes: “the underlying problems were avoidable, the fundamental causes went unaddressed, and the cumulative effect on the customer was decidedly negative.” How does a company sustain so much growth and profitability, but allow customer satisfaction to remain at such a low level?

Suggested Article: Building Scalable Applications: How Geotab Got To Hosting 10,000 Customers In Just a Few Short Years

Everyone Plays a Role in the Customer Experience

Customer satisfaction is my key focus at Geotab. We have built great products and software for our customers, but that is just the beginning. The customer’s journey has many layers and every employee has a role to play in order to reach our goal of 1 Million 

Active Subscribers.

The most important interaction with a client is the interaction happening right now.

Delivering comprehensive customer onboarding programs, sharing best practices, and creating regular touch points all build customer loyalty by showing the customer that we are their partner in every step of their journey.

For Geotab, our goal is to go the extra mile for customers by:

1. Providing a reliable, scalable software and hardware experience.
2. Acting as a consultant to maximize the customer’s understanding of the data being reported and ensure they maximize their return on investment.
3. Have an open API and build a rich Marketplace with industry leading partners.

Going the extra step ensures that our customers can tap into the potential of rich telematics data.

Regardless of department or title, we are all responsible for the customer experience. At Geotab, the customer experience is influenced by how our solution functions reliably, but also how our consultation leads to a customer’s utilization of the product within their business, sharing best practices, and assisting the customer in getting the most value out of the software.

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