Post-pandemic consumer has less patience with a company that makes mistakes, says research

More than half of consumers (51%) believe that the service provided by the telephone and broadband internet sector has worsened during the pandemic. For another 22%, there was a significant deterioration in public transport.

Completing the ranking of the three sectors that left most to be desired in service after Covid-19 is the pay TV, responsible for 7% of complaints.

The data belong to a survey carried out electronically by the Conquist consultancy, with 411 consumers, between May and July this year, with a confidence margin of 95%. Among those interviewed, 55% are female and half of consumers are between 31 and 50 years old.

The survey, which sought to identify what has changed in the service provided to consumers today in relation to the pre-pandemic period, also pointed out the sectors that have improved since the emergence of Covid-19. For 27% of respondents, restaurants have improved services, another 18% point to personal care and beauty services, while 13% elect supermarkets as the ones that have evolved the most in terms of service.

“It is natural that, since a large part of the population started to work, study and have fun from home during the pandemic, using the internet more, broadband and telephone services faced a bottleneck”, says Roberto Madruga, president of Conquist and consultant at HSM, corporate education platform.

“But the survey was carried out more than a year after the first lockdown, that is, enough time for companies to prepare for this abrupt increase in demand”, says the executive, visiting professor at FGV (Getulio Vargas Foundation) and who has just finished launch the book “Relationship Management and Customer Experience” (publisher GEN/Atlas).

In Madruga’s opinion, companies need to work hard so that the consumer has a memorable service experience — and not just guarantee the quality of a product or service.

“The consumer of today is with emotions running high and has become much more intolerant of corporate mistakes”, says the Executive. “In general, people are more anxious, they want to save time and make the money invested in a particular product or service even more valued,” he says.

Hence the search for a more personalized service, which leads to the most highly rated sectors during the post-pandemic: restaurants and beauty services. “These are segments that needed to reinvent their own business, which underwent a greater humanization of service”, he says.

This means being serviced anytime, anywhere and having your problem resolved. “The main factor that makes the consumer cancel a service or stop buying a product is the bad service”, says Madruga.

In other words, after-sales has become as important as the sale itself for the company to guarantee its place in the market.

What are the most used communication channels for shopping or requesting a service? (in %)

Source: Conquest

According to the survey, 96.8% of Brazilians consider it extremely or very important to receive good service from companies. Experience with the product or service is the most important point of contact for 40% of respondents. But for 36% of consumers, the service experience is a priority.

Service via WhatsApp has greatly improved compared to what was offered before the pandemic, according to 58% of respondents. For 47%, there was an evolution in the service provided by the companies’ websites, while 45% indicate that the service provided by social networks has advanced. But, for 39%, the service via telephone worsened in this interval.

With the use of new digital channels, 43% realized an improvement in convenience compared to what it was before the pandemic. This explains the 28 percentage point increase in the use of WhatsApp, while the physical stores channel dropped 58 points.

“The convenience of an electronic service via WhatsApp, in which you don’t have to leave the house, the call doesn’t drop and you don’t spend hours waiting for an answer, is a much better experience than the telephone service”, says Madruga.

“That ‘wait a minute, I’ll be right back’ warning can be endless and more irritating than ever.”