Survey Monitor January 1996

Complaining shoppers may be a store’s best customers

A new national survey of department store customers reveals the complaints window may offer a true bounty for managers - it’s the place to meet a store’s most satisfied customers.

It may seem counter-intuitive but the customer most likely to complain also is most likely to be one of the store’s best and most loyal customers, according to a national survey of 1,179 department store customers by Burke Customer Satisfaction Associates, Cincinnati. Moreover, the complainers also are those most likely to expect that their problems with a department store will be resolved to their satisfaction. The Burke CSA study, which identifies factors that create a department store "secure customer," found that a complainer is often a loyal customer who cares enough to seek redress and expects a positive outcome.

Of the department store customers surveyed by Burke, three-fourths either definitely or probably would report a problem directly to store management. Of these potential complainers, three fourths expected that they would reach satisfactory resolution with the store. Significantly, those who said they would complain were more likely to be the most frequent shoppers - 54 percent of those who shop every two to three weeks versus only 45 percent of those who shop once or twice a year.

That a store’s best customers are the most likely to complain makes perfect sense to Carey Watson, senior vice president of marketing for Burdines department store in Miami. Watson regards complaints as a positive thing, especially from frequent shoppers who are traditionally a store’s strongest supporters. "When a customer is loyal to your store, they care about you. So when you disappoint them, it’s a kind of shock. When they complain, they are saying, ’Hey, it’s unusual but you’ve let me down and I just wanted to let you know.’ It’s very healthy," says Watson.

"A complaint is a wonderful opportunity for the retailer," Watson continues. "For every complaint you get, maybe a half dozen others will not take the time. So the first thing you need to do is to go to those customers and thank them sincerely. They are taking the time." Complaints, says Watson, are "a phenomenal source of information" on what is going wrong in a store’s operation, especially if they are coming from frequent shoppers.

Overall, the Burke CSA department store customer study found a very high level of satisfaction, with nine out of 10 of those surveyed reporting themselves as very or somewhat satisfied, and that they would shop at that store again. However within this overall positive rating, the Burke survey revealed an age split between those shoppers willing to complain and those who would fume but suffer silently. Complainers are likely to be older. Separated by age, 61 percent of those 55+ said they would definitely speak up while ordy 39 percent of those under 34 said they would. Thus an older, more frequent shopper is more likely to turn up at the complaints window and yet this is the same customer who most expects to come away satisfied.

The "complainer" profile fits closely with Burke’s findings of a department store "secure customer," which Burke CSA defines as one who is very satisfied, would definitely recommend the store to others and would shop at that store again. Any other customer is considered vulnerable. This study revealed a department store secure customer tended to be a female 45+ who shops one or more times a month. Statistically, Burke’s most vulnerable department store customer is under 34 and an infrequent shopper.

Word-of-mouth most powerful with 20-somethings

Pssst. Pass it on...The latest MLLEMeter report from Mademoiselle magazine and Roper Starch Worldwide Inc. reveals that women in their 20s are more vocal than older women about recommending specific products they like. Twentysomething women are more likely to pass along a good word about clothing, computer equipment, electronics, personal investments and alcoholic beverages. Long distance phone service, TV shows, restaurants and airlines are endorsed less frequently. These findings are based on faceto- face interviews in respondents’ homes with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 women age 18+. Base: consumers who made a product/ service recommendation in the past year.

Tracking study looks at perceptions of multimedia/interactive technologies

The latest edition of the Verity Multimedia/Interactive Tracking Study by The Verity Group, Inc., Fullerton, Calif., has been released to subscribers. The biannual study focuses on the attitudes, behaviors and/or opinions of adult consumers, children and retailers in relation to different technologies. On-line services, CD-ROM, and "edutainment" are three of the 20 topics researched.

The biannual study focuses on the attitudes, behaviors and/or opinions of adults, children and retailers in relation to a wide variety of existing and emerging multimedia/interactive technologies.

One of the study’s highlights is the "brand mapping" section in which consumers compare the attributes of 20 brands - some of which haven’t been considered competitors until now. "Thanks to the phenomenon of ’convergence,’ products that used to be in distinctly different categories are now competitors. As the line blurs between personal computers and compact disc players, a company like Sony might find itself competing against a company like Compaq. This is just one of many cases where individual products are merging into a new hybrid product," says William Matthies, Verity’s president.

The last study, released earlier this fear, provided profiles of five distinct attitudinal segments. One goup, dubbed "The Beaten Path" by Verity analysts, wants nothing to do with multimedia/interactive products, and in fact believes they are a bad idea and unnecessary. "The market for new technology is not dependent on demographics alone. We find that younger consumers are not universally receptive to new ideas and emerging technology, says GracePost, Verity’s vice president of market research.

Some study highlights:

62 percent of adults say they will watch a maximum of 10 TV channels no matter how many are offered in the future.
68 percent of adults are aware of the term "multimedia" compared to 51 percent who are aware of "interactive." Fifty-nine percent of consumers believe there is a difference between the two technologies.
Adult consumers believe that the phone company could provide higher quality interactive TV than could cable companies. Forty-four percent of adults say they would seriously consider receiving TV service from the phone company rather than their cable company. Fifty-three percent would rather have DBS than cable.
78 percent of adults believe that the convergence of PCs with entertainment-type products is a good idea.
70 percent of adults see the need to combine products that are currently sold separately. Sixty percent do not believe that combined products mean lower quality.
61 percent of retailers agee that multimedia should combine the functions of products which are currently separate.

Consumers and retailers more often use the television, rather than the computer, as the base or focal point for a converged product. Whereas computers and CD-ROM are most frequently associated with the terms "multimedia" and "interactive," this may not be the case where product convergence is concerned.
22 percent of adults subscribe to an on-line service. Twenty-five percent of them say they have canceled one service and subscribed to another sometime in the past. Fifty-two percent of adult on-line subscribers use the service at least two to four times per week; 68 percent use it once a week.
Adult subscribers use E-mail (28 percent), use Web info pages (15 percent) and download information (14 percent).
44 percent of children who subscribe to on-line services say their parents limit their use; 48 percent say they are allowed to go on-line for one hour or less at a time; 41 percent are allowed one to two hours at a time.
To date, children own about 10 times more cartridge games than CDROM games.
38 percent of adults who play games on PCs anticipate playing more frequently with Windows 95.
44 percent of children say a computer is the ideal game platform, while 40 percent say it is a TV-based system.
47 percent of the children who owned a standalone game system before their household got a computer say they now play games more frequently on the computer than on the standalone system. The ideal game system should include the performance and graphics offered by PC-based video games and the screen size offered by standalone systems which connect to the television.
40 percent of adults say they use their home PC every day.
48 percent of adult home computer owners say they bought their computer to complete work from the office. This compares to 17 percent who purchased for games and 16 percent who purchased for the kids.
33 percent of adults who purchased edutainment software for their children say their child told them which title to purchase; 27 percent of those children used that title at school.
71 percent of adult home computer owners say software came bundled with their computer. Fifty percent of computer owners say they do not regularly use the software that was bundled with their computer. They also say they wished different software had been bundled (28 percent of 71 percent) and that proper software bundling is important enough to affect the computer brand purchased.

Bundling is a key factor in a consumer’s mind when purchasing a computer. However, there does appear to be conflict within the household when children are involved. Children would like to find more game software bundled with computers while adult consumers are more likely to mention desiring various word processing and business related software.
41 percent of adult consumers believe that on-line product advertising/information will be very influential in introducing multimedia/interactive products and in convincing consumers to buy them.
53 percent of adults strongly agree that in-store demonstrations will increase their likelihood of purchasing a multimedia/interactive product. The sampler disc has become the norm for marketing software. Actual hands-on experience appears to be the factor that propels consumers to purchase new products, especially those that incorporate multimedia or interactive technology.
48 percent of adults claim they would like to have the ability to check a store’s stock via the computer, then go to the store to purchase the desired item.
Nearly 40 percent of retailers believe it is likely that new stores will open in the near future which will sell multimedia/interactive products only. Thirty-four percent of consumers say they desire a new store which sells only "converged" products. For existing stores, dealers feel that superstores will be the winners in multimedia/interactive product sales.

The latest study is based on interviews with 1,000 adults aged 19 and older, 600 children from eight to 18 years of age, and 500 retailers divided between major chains and independent dealers. Research methodology is selected to be representative of the total U.S. population and is accurate to +/- 3 percent.

Shoppers wary of efforts to monitor their behavior

A recent study found that many consumers would be wilting to provide information on their shopping habits for the purpose of receiving targeted promotions, provided they receive a full disclosure and assurances that the informarion will only be used for the intended purposes and not sold or provided to others without their approval.

The study, by Clayton/Curtis/Cottrell, a Boulder, Colo., market research firm, presents information based on personal interviews, focus groups and direct mail surveys with 2,529 shoppers randomly selected nationwide.

In spite of their apparent willingness to let marketers monitor their consumption, consumers are wary. There have been too many violations of their privacy. Many concepts that currently gain shopping information, such as loyalty programs, electronic kiosks and shopping behavior questionnaires do not fully disclose to consumers how the information will be used.

Fifty-seven percent of the shoppers surveyed would be bothered to learn that their shopping behavior was being measured and sold without their knowl edge; 30.1 percent would not be bothered. Sixty-seven percent of the shoppers surveyed indicate that their store has not fully disclosed how information on their shopping behavior is to be used. Only 4.3 percent of the shoppers indicate that they have received a full disclosure.

Slightly less than 38 percent of the shoppers surveyed would be willing to provide their shopping behavior informarion if they were satisfied with how it will be used. At the same time, 36.6 percent are not willing to provide behavioral information regardless of the assurances received. The largest group of shoppers, at 23.5 percent, would be willing to provide their shopping information to the grocery store where they do most of their shopping. Another 21.1 percent would be willing to provide it to a highly recognized and respected national company representing all manufacturers of grocery store products.

Only 17.7 percent are not willing to provide their shopping information regardless of the assurances or representations. The remainder, 86.7 percent, are willing to provide their information to certain entities or under certain circumstances.

Thirty-three percent of the shoppers surveyed use a check-cashing card; 40.4 percent completed an application when applying for their check-cashing card; 19.2 percent belong to a frequent shopper club; 14.9 percent completed an application when applying for membership in a frequent shopper club; 13.9 percent pay for their purchases at the grocery store with a national credit card and 71.3 percent pay for their grocery store purchases with a personal check. Slightly less than half (49.0 percent) of the shoppers surveyed realize that most, if not all, of the above activities may allow their shopping behavior to be measured.

The largest group of shoppers, at 45.8 percent, is indifferent about redeeming personalized coupons; 31.3 percent like the concept and 22.9 percent dislike it. The redemption of personalized bank drafts (like coupons, but cleared through the Federal Reserve System instead of through clearinghouses) is disliked by 45.8 percent of the shoppers; 35.4 percent are indifferent and 18.8 percent like the concept. The preparation of a shopping list on a special scannable form is disliked by 45.7 percent of the shoppers if coupons are printed for the products purchased; 29.8 percent like the concept and 24.5 percent are indifferent. If a scannable shopping list resuits in automatic discounts at the cash register for the product purchased 35.1 percent of the shoppers like the concept, 35.1 percent dislike the concept and 29.8 percent are indifferent.

Just over 65 percent of shoppers dislike the idea of being able to select available promotions from their home television or telephone and have coupons printed out prior to shopping; 24.7 percent are indifferent and 9.7 percent like the concept. Just over 55 percent dislike the idea of being able to input their shopping list into their home television or telephone and have the applicable discounts on purchases automatically deducted at the time of checkout; 31.5 percent are indifferent and 13.0 percent like the idea. Slightly less than half the shoppers surveyed - 48.4 percent - dislike the concept of answering shopping behavior questions on their interactive television or telephone; 34.1 percent are indifferent and 17.6 percent like the idea. Almost half the shoppers surveyed - 49.5 percent - were in favor of a one-time completion of a shopping behavior questionnaire that would result in an ID card that allowed automatic deduction of discounts at the time of checkout; 34.7 percent of the shoppers are indifferent and 15.8 percent dislike the concept.

Testifying to the passion for discounts, 54.2 percent of the shoppers surveyed would disclose their shopping behavior if doing so were the only way to obtain discounts and only 19.8 percent will not provide their identity regardless of the circumstances. If providing their identity entitled the shopper to bonus discounts over and above the regular discounts, 60.4 percent of the shoppers would allow themselves to be identified and their shopping behavior monitored. Only 14.6 percent are unwilling to identify themselves and their shopping behavior.