Did you know the pregnancy help community has consistently achieved the “Zone of Affection” with client satisfaction?
What is the “Zone of Affection” you ask? Well, it’s the sweet spot of customer service ratings.
This is a term coined by a Harvard Business School professor, Jim Heskett, from his research in customer satisfaction ratings. His research showed that customer satisfaction over 80 percent puts a company into the Zone of Affection.
When 80 percent or more of a company’s customers are satisfied, they’re more likely to tell friends of their positive experience and, if necessary, return as customers. At a certain level, above 90 percent satisfaction, these individuals become “apostles” for the business (a term coined by the early researchers at Xerox). As apostles, they are “sent ones” by the organization, drawing (evangelizing) others to the same experience they received.
Aggregating just two years (2014-2015) of exit interview satisfaction surveys from more than 200 pregnancy help centers across the country, a very clear picture emerges. Nearly 91 of every 100 clients reports the highest level of satisfaction with the services they received. This is the “Zone of Affection!”
Each of these women is a candidate to be an “apostle” for your outreach. More than likely, this is exactly what contributes so positively to the local referral strength of the “Word of Mouth” category.
If you add the two top categories together, it shows that very close to 99 out of every 100 clients reports a positive experience at the PHC. It’s hard to be better than that. Clearly, PHCs are doing something very right. Even when all the processes and systems may not be perfect, the care we share is reflected in satisfied clients.
Customers who represent a middling satisfaction like “Fair” or, possibly, “Good” represent the “Zone of Indifference.” They may return themselves, but they are far less likely to report their experience to others. Lower on the scale is the “Zone of Defection”. These customers will not be back and are highly likely to pursue competitors (in our case, that would is more likely to be an abortion provider than another PHC).
Out of nearly 70,000 respondents, about 80 indicated “Poor” on their satisfaction survey. These are the opposite of the “apostles,” dubbed “saboteurs.” Saboteurs, like the apostles, will tell their friends about their negative experience. If this is through social media, the impact can be magnified.
A very small number of dissatisfied clients can seem like there is great dissatisfaction with the PHC. The statistics simply do not bear this out, so be cautious not to over-analyze or over-react to a negative survey result.
One of the internal elements Professor Heskett found in his research on customer satisfaction was innovation. While our “products” aren’t consistently changing – compassion and love are our primary product – our methods and messaging should be in a constant state of innovation. This is particularly true as our client audience changes. We can take cues from the emerging culture surrounding our target demographic and make subtle, or distinct, changes to continue achieve strong satisfaction results.
Tweet This: At least 91 percent of #prolife center clients are *highly* satisfied. @jorelg
Since the typical PHC “customer” is usually in a “short-term” relationship with us – from a single visit to many months – the idea that they represent “loyal” customers themselves is less important than how they will communicate to those around them.
The good news – we seem to have a lot of “apostles” helping get the message out.
