Background/Problem Statement
In a contemporary society that is marked by rapidly emerging and growing business, the customers’ opinions have become a center-stage in determining the quality of services a business provides. Globalization does not make things easy, and as business firms aim to outperform each other, the effectiveness of the customer care section becomes imperative. Poor customer service is a weak element that can jeopardize the success of any business; hence, it is not acceptable and cannot be tolerated. Such is the case with Computers R Us as it aims to determine the effectiveness of its Complete Care department that deals with customers’ technical inquiries and warranty repairs. The CompleteCare sector is meant to offer effective and reliable services, but this has not been the case because there have been a lot of complaints about CompleteCare.
Feedback from customers is perceived as an important factor in positive growth and marketing outcomes. Negative feedback or customer complaints should, therefore, seek to understand the underlying logic of the complaints. Both service and goods industries seek to emerge the best, and this cannot be attained if customer complaints are not logically understood (Tronvoll, 2012). If nothing is done to resolve the complaints, this would mean poor business due to the loss of customers. Singh and Arora (2011) indicate the essence of customer retention, a feature that is under threat if the customers’ concerns are not addressed. Adopting a dynamic model in understanding customer complaints is more insightful enables a company to understand the complaint beyond post-transactional activity.
Purpose of the Research
This research aims at establishing the effectiveness of CompleteCare in addressing the complaints of the customers. The study will examine the number of complaints, the reasons for the complaints and how the CompleteCare staff handles the complaints. It is a perceived performance that determines customer satisfaction; hence, the study will aim to understand the expectations of the company’s customer service/care division (Varela-Neira, Vázquez-Casielles & Iglesias, 2010). This rationale will lead to the first research question:
- What is the perceived performance you expect from Computers R Us’ customer service? Also, it will be important to know the reason why the customer service department is deemed ineffective. Thus, the second research question will be:
- How did the customer service department fail to meet your expectations? Most often, the customer’s experience is deemed to end upon completing a transaction, but this should not be the case because after-sale service is paramount after a customer presents his/her complaint (s). This after-sale service helps the customer (s) to regain trust in the company. Thus, it is important to find out:
- What actions were taken to address your complaint?
- Was the customer service department effective in addressing your complaint? Understanding the complaints will help the company to determine the reason why there have been so many complaints. The customers are an effective source of making modifications in the customer service department. Therefore, the other research question will be.
- How can we improve to meet your expectations? Also, the company will be able to estimate the effects these complaints can have on the company. Subsequently, the company will be able to come up with mitigation measures that will help to prevent future complaints due to poor customer service.
Research design
This study will adopt a comparative survey approach that will examine the response rate, response time, average waiting time, customer satisfaction score successfully repaired appliances about warranty. This approach was adopted because the research aims to compare its customer service delivery department to that of a similar company deemed to have unprecedented customer services (Adeyemi & Adeyemi, 2013). The questionnaire will have both quantitative and qualitative questions to develop a better and broader understanding of the department, which is still new. A questionnaire including the variables mentioned above as well as on perceived performance, reasons for complaints and ways of improvement. Subsequently, these elements will be compared with a standard, in this case, the company deemed to have exceptional customer services. The independent variables will be the perceived performance, response rate, response time, average waiting time and appliances repaired. These will be correlated to the customer satisfaction score. Qualitative analysis will augment the quantitative analysis.
The number of complaints will be collected, sorted out to avoid duplication, and the ultimate list will be used to determine the sample size and enroll participants. The questionnaire will be adopted from a customer survey template by Scancapture (2015). Questionnaires, which will have the format indicated below, will be emailed to selected clients.
Socio-demographic Characteristics
Perceived Performance
What service (s) had you sought recently/ are seeking now from the company?
Making Inquiry [ ]
Purchasing a good [ ]
Repair and Maintenance [ ]
Other, Specify _____________
How did you expect your need (s) would be addressed?
Efficiently [ ]
Effectively [ ]
Speedily [ ]
Can you say that you need (s) was addressed satisfactorily?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Why?
Were you happy with the service (s) you received?
Yes
No
If yes, what is it you liked most about the service (s)?
Do you think your need (s) was addressed with utmost detail and thoroughness
Yes
No
Why
Is there anything you did not like about our service (s)?
Yes
No
If yes, what?
Customer Service Efficacy
How long did it take before you were served?
0-10 minutes [ ]
11-20 minutes [ ]
21-30 minutes [ ]
>30 minutes [ ]
Do you think the customer service staff understood your need (s)?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Select the enthusiasm levels of our customer care representative (s) while helping you.
Extremely enthusiastic [ ]
Very enthusiastic [ ]
Moderately enthusiastic [ ]
Slightly enthusiastic [ ]
Not enthusiastic at all [ ]
How did our customer care representative attend to your need (s)?
Extremely fast [ ]
Quite fast [ ]
Somewhat fast [ ]
Neither fast nor slowly [ ]
Somewhat slowly [ ]
Quite slowly [ ]
Extremely slowly [ ]
How knowledgeable is our staff?
Extremely knowledgeable [ ]
Quite knowledgeable [ ]
Moderately knowledgeable [ ]
Slightly knowledgeable [ ]
Not knowledgeable [ ]
Addressing Complaints
Have you transacted with us again after you made the complaint?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Do you think there was anything done to ensure that the quality of customer service improved based on your complaint?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Please give suggestions on how we can improve our customer service to increase effectiveness and efficiency?
- ____________________________
- ____________________________
- _____________________________
- _______________________________
Customer Satisfaction
On a scale of one to ten, kindly rate the overall service (s) you received at the company.
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the following parameters as experienced from Computers R Us.
The questionnaires will be emailed and only returned questionnaires without missing answers would be used for analysis. Alongside the questionnaire sent to the clients, there would be informed consent and the participant will have to sign it as an indication of voluntary participation. The questionnaire will be prepared and administered by the researcher. The research study would be reviewed for ethical clearance.
The validity and reliability of the questionnaire will be determined by emailing it the customers presenting complaints, but not part of the sample size. The Cronbach alpha and Pearson’s coefficients will be used to determine the validity and reliability of the questionnaire.
Sampling
This research will target only those customers above the age of 18 that have made transactions with the company, notwithstanding the number of transactions, but with relevant contact details. The sample will be selected from those customers who will have made the complaints, and all the customers who will have made complaints will act as the sampling frame. Using the sampling frame, already published sampling tables will be used to determine the sample size. The confidence level and margin of error used to determine the sample size will be 95% and 5%, respectively. The sampling frame, which is also the population size, will be identified from the left column of the sampling table. If the exact population is not available in this column, the next highest value will be selected. Subsequently, the value in the adjacent column will be identified and selected as it is commensurate with a margin error of ± 5%.
Once the sample size is determined, systematic random sampling will be used to recruit the sample from the list at an interval obtained by dividing the population size with the sample size. The population size will be numbered from 1 to N. Assuming that K is the sampling interval, the first participant will be between1 and K. The first participant will be selected using simple random sampling, but every subsequent participant will be recruited using the sampling interval. Every Kth participant after the first one will be recruited. In this research, the customers are the sampling units. Despite the likelihood of sampling frame error, the representativeness of the sample based on the available sampling frame is assured.
Data Analysis
The questionnaires will be cleaned, and quantitative data entered into statistical tables for analysis. Information from open-ended questions would be coded into themes, and it will be used to understand quantitative data. Descriptive statistics in terms of proportions, frequencies, and percentages will be used to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample population. Means will be tested for significance using a t-test in the event of two groups, for example, statistical differences between customer satisfaction scores for the company and that of the comparison company. ANOVA will be employed to determine the statistical significance of means for more than two groups, for example, perceived performance across individuals of different occupations. Chi-Square will establish significant differences between categorical variables. Regression analysis will be used to predict reasons for lack of customer satisfaction and the effectiveness of the customer service department.
Qualitative data will be arranged into themes and used to gain more insight into the quantitative data. Also, it is this data that will help the organization to gain insight into the ways that the company can introduce to improve its customer service and subsequent customer satisfaction score. Deviations from prevailing patterns will be identified and possible factors that explain the deviations explained.
Budget
Timeline
References
Adeyemi, B. A., & Adeyemi, B. B. (2013). A comparative study of secondary school students’ performance in English and Social Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Osun State, Nigeria. Research on Humanities and social Sciences, 3 (7). Web.
Scancapture. (2015). Questionnaires to measure customer satisfaction. Web.
Singh, S., & Arora, R. (2011). A comparative study of banking services and customer satisfaction in public, private and foreign banks. J Economics, 2(1), 45-56.
Tronvoll, B. (2012). A dynamic model of customer complaining behaviour from the perspective of service-dominant logic. European Journal of Marketing, 46(1/2), 284 – 305.
Varela-Neira, C., & Vázquez-Casielles, R., & Iglesias, V. (2010). Explaining customer satisfaction with complaint handling. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 28(2), 88 – 112.