Examples - Outcome 3
Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale.
Example 1
A building society uses a mixture of customer measures and monitoring of staff activity to assess its treatment of customers
The firm uses three customer measures:
- The percentage of customers that would recommend the firm to friends and family;
- The proportion of customers that give a poor customer satisfaction rating; and
- The total number of complaints received.
Additional measures include recording telephone conversations conducted by its customer services team. An assessment is made of the call quality, in terms of clarity of explanations offered to customers and appropriateness of information provided. A target has been set for the percentage of calls that need to pass this assessment. The actual vs. target percentage is reported to senior management along with commentary and actions as required.
Comment:
Using a combination of customer and internal measures helps to provide the firm with a balanced view. Customer satisfaction may be indicative of fairness but it does not demonstrate fair treatment. From a TCF perspective, such surveys should aim to understand the customer's experience and cover such topics as:
- Understanding of the product benefits and risks (not 'do you understand the benefits?' but 'please describe the benefits');
- Understanding of the sales process and the information provided; and
- Why the customer believes they have been treated fairly or unfairly.
The firm may benefit from mapping the customer experience - as indicated by the customer measures - to actual behaviour to identify any correlation, for example to see if a positive experience leads to increased purchasing or holding products for longer.
Example 2
A retail banking group carries out mystery shopping to assess customer outcomes and business performance
Mystery shopping is carried out for particular types of enquiry that customers might have. The results are analysed to determine whether feedback is positive or negative with a target percentage used to determine success or failure. Results showed that a particular sales channel was underperforming, and that they were not using a specifically designed questionnaire to identify customer needs. Action was taken to ensure that the questionnaire was used in future.
Comment:
By trying to understand the customer's position, the firm was able to identify an issue that created possible customer detriment as their needs were less likely to be met. At the same time the firm saw potential for clear commercial benefits in improving its sales process and better matching its services to the needs of customers. The firm may find it helpful to take steps to understand why the questionnaire was no longer being used and take appropriate action. The firm may also benefit from continuing to track this activity and it may need to consider improved training and competency and incentive programmes to encourage improved staff behaviours.
Other examples
- Outcome 1 - Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture
- Outcome 2 - Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly
- Outcome 4 - Here customers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances
- Outcome 5 - Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is both of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect
- Outcome 6 - Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint