OVERVIEW
Customer service and technical support provide an often under--exploited opportunity to differentiate a company's offering. People brace themselves for a frustrating experience when they call an airline, a bank or a credit card company to get an issue resolved, and are surprised (and delighted) when a customer service rep acknowledges the problem, apologizes for the inconvenience and addresses the issue with a minimal turn--around time. When a customer has a problem had never occurred. And the best way to lose a customer? Make it time--consuming and aggravating for him to get his service issues resolved. A simple formula, but not easy to navigate in an industry with high--tech problems and complex solutions. Add to that the myriad of platforms customers expect to be able to use to obtain problem resolution, and life science suppliers are challenged to set up an infrastructure that yields quick, satisfactory resolutions to customer complaints.
BioInformatics LLC's upcoming market study, Customer Service and Technical
Support for Life Science Products: Customer Preferences was designed to
quantify scientists' opinions as to how well supplier customer service
departments are meeting expectations. Divided into two service categories -
customer service and technical support - this primary research report outlines
scientists' experiences with regards to complaint resolution, channels
selected to communicate problems (e.g., telephone, website complaint forms,
live chat, non-vendor online resources etc.) and degree of satisfaction with a
variety of help-desk, call center and online service attributes. Additionally,
major suppliers are benchmarked to identify which companies are providing
superior service, and which suppliers are failing to live up to the level of
service that scientists' demand.
Often times, a scientists' opinion about his or her customer service or
technical support experience defies logic and relies solely on a subjective
assessment of what he or she remembers most. AS part of this report, data is
collected on respondents' actual experience with a recent service event. This
not only illuminates company responses that “get a rise” out of
scientists - and those that make them happy, it also assists with mapping
positive experiences and pain points to provide a more objective view of how a
company's service is perceived. Capitalizing on what this report reveals about
how scientists think - and feel - about their recent experiences with service
reps, problem resolution and available channels, suppliers can develop
evidence--based solutions that more frequently leave the complainer feeling
positively toward the company.
One critical component of this report that reflects the realities of
responding to the customer in 2011 is an analysis of electronic media and how
scientists use the Internet to communicate with companies and colleagues to
resolve issues. Respondents are asked about their awareness of social media
platforms, support apps and supplier--sponsored communities, and whether or
not they rely on these channels to resolve service issues. Many of these
devices are outside the suppliers' control, leaving scientists to take matters
into their own hands and broadcast kudos and horror stories to a global
audience - all the more critical to use Customer Service and Technical Support
for Life Science Products: Customer Preferences as a guide for getting it
right.
THIS REPORT WILL HELP YOU TO:
- Determine the impact of customer service and technical support on purchase
decisions and recommending a life science supplier.
- Discover usage and preferences for different service/support channels
- Classify attributes of customer service that impact the decision to become
a repeat customer.
- Classify attributes of technical support that impact the decision to
purchase a product.
- Identify attributes of “good” customer service and technical
support, and where improvement is needed.
- Benchmark satisfaction with customer service and technical support
departments of key life science suppliers
- Explore researcher's experience with their most recent service/support
experience
- Learn about the usage of public/social media platforms to resolve service
issues
METHODOLOGY
The questionnaire was completed by 1,099 life scientists in North America and
Europe between March 22 and 29, 2011. respondents were those who have had a
customer service and/or technical support related problem in the last 6 months.
The electronic questionnaire was fileded to registered members of The Science
Advisory Board®. BioInformatics sponsors The Science Advisory Board, an online
community of more than 60, 000 scientists, physicians and healthcare
professionals from around the world. The Science Advisory Board is divided
into tow panels (Research and Clinical) and “convenes” regularly
via the World Wide Web to voice their opinions on a wide variety of issues
relating to biomedical research and clinical technologies. These experts -
representing all aspects of the life sciences and medicine - have agreed to
make themselves available to participate in our online research activities.
The Science Advisory Board members who participated in this study were drawn
from the Board's Research Panel.
KEY FINDINGS
Importance of Service/Support in the Decision to Purchase Products from One Supplier Over Another
Customer Service
Technical Support
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
- Contact frequency of customer support/technical service departments
- Importance of customer service/technical support in
- purchasing decisions of consumables and instruments
- decisions to recommend consumables and instruments
Customer Service
- Percent of non--technical problems reported to supplier in the last 6
months
- Suppliers' customer service departments contacted within last 6 months;
number of times contacted by supplier
- Customer service channels used for non--technical problems
- First, second, third service channel preferences
- Reasons for first service channel preference
- Types of products most often requiring non--technical support in the last
6 months
- Preferred customer service channels
- Degree of importance of customer service departments' qualities
- Most important priorities for customer service departments
- Factors that make the most “responsive” customer service
- Satisfaction by types of assistance over the last 6 months
- Satisfaction with factors that make for the most “responsive”
customer service
- Overall customer service satisfaction by supplier
- Supplier that has given the best impression of the quality of their
customer service, and how they did it
Technical Support
- Percentage of technical problems reported to suppliers in the last 6 months
- Suppliers technical support departments contacted with last 6 months;
number of times contacted by supplier
- Technical support channels used in the last 6 months
- First, second, third technical support channel preferences
- Reasons for first technical support channel preference
- Types of products most often requiring technical support in the last 6
months
- Preferred technical support channels
- Degree of importance of technical support departments' qualities
- Most important priorities for technical support departments
- Factors that make the most “responsive” technical support
- Satisfaction by types of technical support over the last 6 months
- Satisfaction with factors that make for the most “responsive”
technical support
- Overall technical support satisfaction by supplier
- Supplier that has given the best impression of the quality of their
technical support, and how they did it
Recent Experience
- Most recently reported problem (customer service or technical support)
- Supplier associated with most recently reported problem
- Specific problems by supplier
- Resolution outcomes
- Resolution outcomes by channels used
- Satisfaction with assistance received for most recent technical
support/customer service problem by type of support
- Overall satisfaction with support received for most recent technical
support or customer service problem
- Likelihood of repeat contact of most recently contacted technical support
or customer service department
General Experience and Future Trends
- Likelihood of refraining from purchasing from a supplier after one bad
customer service and/or technical support experience
- Use of social media to get the attention of a life science supplier's
customer service and/or technical support departments
- Use of social media to get the attention of a life science supplier's
customer service and/or technical support departments by technical
support/customer service
- Use of public platform to “rave” about a life science supplier
or their product within the last 6 months
- Responses generated from “rave”
- Use of public platform to complain about a life science supplier or their
product within the last 6 months
- Responses generated from complaint
- Awareness and use of support tools
- Perceived usefulness of support tools
- Interest in using desktop sharing, texting, video chat for customer
service and/or technical support
- Receptiveness to customer service/technical support solutions available on
mobile devices
- Receptiveness to more personalized service
- Using community-based interactions, public platforms to interact with
customers
- Willingness to pay more for products for a better experience with a
supplier
- Willingness of leaving a supplier based on a bad experience with the
customer service and/or technical support department
- Peer review of issues and solutions with suppliers and their influences on
future purchase decisions
- Opinion of suppliers using “universal customer history record”
ABOUT BIOINFORMATICS LLC
Since our inception in 1994, BioInformatics has provided critical market
intelligence to leading companies serving the life science, medical device and
pharmaceutical industries. We support clients across the
entire market spectrum - from scientific research to diagnostics and
therapeutics - providing high--level management with market insights from gene
to drug.
Our multi-disciplinary team of scientific experts and business analysts
creates value for our clients by combining extensive industry knowledge and
experience. We offer a variety of products and services that enable executives
to see themselves, their market and their competitors through the eyes of the
most important information source of all - customers. We can precisely meet
the needs of our clients through the most appropriate mix of research
methodologies, including:
- Online Surveys
- Online Focus Groups
- Telephone Interviews
