NYCM Insurance: Today's Companies Make New York Residents Feel 'Like a Number' Reveals New Survey

Disgruntled Customers are "Very Likely" to Share Their Experience with Friends; Nearly Half Vent on Social Media

News provided by

Jul 14, 2010, 09:19 ET

EDMESTON, N.Y., July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- If you live in New York and have a bad customer service experience, chances are good that you will vent about it to your friends according to a new survey. Seventy-eight percent of New York residents polled said they are "very likely" to share a negative customer experience with their friends, and 19 percent said they are "somewhat likely" to share their negative experience. Social media has made it even easier for consumers to complain about poor customer service, and 48 percent of those surveyed said they are likely to vent about a bad customer service experience on outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

The survey also revealed that New York residents today are often made to feel like a number. Forty-three percent of respondents said a company had made them feel like a number in the past week, and 32 percent of them said they had been made to feel this way within the past month. Fifteen percent replied that they were made to feel like a number in the past six months, and eight percent said it was within the past year. Only two percent of respondents said they had never felt like a number during a customer service interaction.

"I guess I'm not that surprised by the fact that nearly all the people surveyed said they have been made to feel like a number within the past year," said Jeremy Robinson, vice president of marketing for NYCM Insurance, a property and casualty insurance carrier based in Edmeston, N.Y. "These tough economic times have forced many companies to cut back in the customer service arena, which is negatively impacting a customer's experience. While companies may be winning on their financial statements, they are losing in the court of public opinion, which will no doubt have long-term consequences."

The 98 percent of respondents made to feel like a number by a company in the past year will identify with the principal character in a new advertising campaign from NYCM Insurance. The campaign calls out bad experiences a customer may experience when trying to engage with other companies that do not place a high value on customer service. In the television spot, the principal character could be anyone as represented by his nondescript face, covered and stamped with a six-digit number. This customer depiction accurately reflects how a majority of New York residents feel during everyday scenarios, including a visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles and a telephone call to a credit card company.

Contacting a company by phone exacerbates the feeling customers have of being treated like a number. When questioned about what aggravates them the most when calling a company, 65 percent of survey respondents said it is the inability to reach a live person. Seventeen percent of respondents said a company's inflexibility or inability to meet their needs was most aggravating; 11 percent said a hold time of two minutes or more most bothered them; and four percent said having to enter an account or Social Security number multiple times was most aggravating.

NYCM Insurance consistently earns great marks for customer service, and Robinson said that there are a number of reasons why the company maintains a good reputation in that area. The biggest aggravation noted by survey respondents is a non-issue at NYCM Insurance. Robinson remarked, "At any time, a caller to our company can dial 0 to reach a live person. Our customer service department operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year." He also emphasized the importance of hiring the right people and pointed out that his business is unlike most others in that it has not ever used traditional advertising or headhunter tactics to find great customer service personnel.

Robinson explained, "The vast majority of people who work in our customer service department were hired from within to ensure that they know the business, our company and our state. When we need to hire someone in customer service, like most companies, we needed them yesterday, and it can take eight months to a year to properly train someone about the business and our culture. By hiring from the inside, we reap the benefits of their experience immediately."

The 73-person customer service department at NYCM Insurance is thriving. Aside from natural attrition, not one person has left the department during the past five years.

NYCM Insurance, headquartered in Edmeston, N.Y., is a property and casualty insurance carrier that has been providing coverage to residents and businesses in New York since 1899. The company offers automobile, homeowner, mobile home, umbrella and commercial policies and is rated A+ by A.M. Best Company. For more information, call 1-888-234-6926 or visit www.nycm.com.

NYCM Insurance's advertising campaign includes broadcast, events and interactive components. It begins airing in select New York markets on July 19.

The online survey of 156 New York residents was conducted by A Closer Look, an Atlanta-based research company, and Survey Monkey in June 2010.

SOURCE NYCM Insurance