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Consumers Report Greatest Number of Bad Experiences with Time Warner Cable and Motel 6, According to New Temkin Group Research

Study of 10,000 U.S. Consumers Examines the Effects of Delivering Bad Experiences Across 19 Industries

WABAN, Mass., Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Temkin Group released new research, What Happens After a Good or Bad Experience, 2014. The report examines the relationship between 10,000 U.S. consumers and 269 companies across 19 industries. Sixteen percent of consumers who have interacted with TV service and Internet service providers report having a bad experience over the previous six months. Next on the list are wireless carriers, with 12% of their customers reporting a bad experience. At the other end of the spectrum, only 3% of consumers report a bad experience with grocery chains and 4% report having a bad experience with fast food chains.

The five companies with the most customers reporting bad experiences are Time Warner Cable (25%), Motel 6 (22%), Coventry Health Care (21%), and Comcast (21%). There were 10 companies with only 1% or less of their customers reporting bad experiences: Scottrade, Chick-fil-A, H.E.B., Whole Foods, ShopRite, ING Direct, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, Vanguard, and True Value.

"Bad experiences are costly for companies, especially in industries where consumers are not trapped into their contracts," states Bruce Temkin, Managing Partner of Temkin Group. "But companies can reverse the negative effects if they respond very effectively after a problem occurs."

More than one-quarter of consumers who have a bad experience stop spending with computer makers, car rental agencies, credit card issuers, hotel chains, and software companies. The impact of bad experiences is less costly for parcel delivery services, wireless carriers, health plans, TV service providers, Internet service providers, and grocery chains, as less than 15% of their customers with bad experience stopped spending.

Here are some additional findings in the research:

  • When companies have a very poor response after a bad experience, 62% of consumers cut back on their spending with the company.
  • When companies have a very good response after a bad experience, 21% of consumers cut back on their spending with the company and 29% increase their spending.
  • The industries that are the best at responding to a bad experience are investment firms, major appliances, retailers, and car rental agencies.
  • The industries that are the worst at responding to a bad experience are TV service providers, wireless carriers, Internet service providers, parcel delivery services, and health plans.
  • Thirty-two percent of consumers give feedback directly to companies after a very bad experience and 23% give feedback after a very good experience.

This research can be accessed from the blog, Customer Experience Matters, at ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com or at the Temkin Group's website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

For more information about Temkin Group, visit www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is widely recognized as a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world's largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys. Temkin Group combines customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of the dynamics of organizations to help accelerate results. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building four critical competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm's ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices across a wide range of activities for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

About Bruce Temkin: Bruce Temkin is widely recognized as a customer experience thought leader and is Customer Experience Transformist and Managing Partner of Temkin Group. He is also the author of a very popular blog, Customer Experience Matters® (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com). Prior to forming Temkin Group, he was a VP at Forrester Research for 12 years. Bruce is a highly demanded speaker who consistently receives high marks for his content-rich, entertaining keynote addresses. He is also the co-founder and Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management.

Customer experience matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.