PDP Corner
Customer Service- USAA Style
Banking and insurance giant USAA has set quite a record for itself – for the past 4 years, the firm has been in the #1 or #2 spot in Business Week’s/J.D. Powers “Customer Service Champions” survey. A whopping 87% of respondents say that they would buy from USAA again (far high from the average score of 36%). In addition, USAA’s retention rate is a near-perfect 98.7%.
Started as a company focused on meeting the special demands of deployed services personnel, USAA now has expanded their product offerings to compete in virtually every segment of the financial services world. Customers laud praise on the level of service provided by USAA, including the ease of filing insurance claims and conducting financial transactions.
What is USAA’s secret? A recent Business Week article outlined the following distinguishing factors:
- Training – Call Center Representatives receive up to 6 months of training before actually answering customer calls – the goal is to ensure that the representatives understand the lives of military customers.
- Benefits – Believing that better benefits will result in representatives who provide better service, USAA employees receive generous health care, bonuses that can exceed 16% of salary, and even relocation assistance.
- Systems – USAA has invested in high-tech software that allows their representatives to see the same on-line screens that customers are seeing on their PCs at home.
- Technology -- USAA recognizes that popularity of mobile services for their customer base – banking customers can even deposit checks by taking pictures using their smartphones.
LL Bean, Apple, Four Seasons Hotels, Publix Supermarkets, and Nordstrom rounded-out the other top spots in the customer service survey.