ENTREVISTA, A Division of the Center for Client Retention, Announces Results of Its Connecting to the Americas Benchmarking Study

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Latin American consumers contacting consumer affairs are substantially younger than U.S. and Canadian consumers who contact similar departments.

“we are so glad you reached out to us”

That’s one of the key findings in the Connecting to the Americas Benchmarking Study conducted recently by ENTREVISTA, a division of The Center For Client Retention (TCFCR.) In total, over 16,000 consumers who had contacted the consumer affairs departments of 14 prestigious U.S. based consumer product companies -- across a variety of industries -- participated in the research.

The study found that slightly less than half of the consumers who participated from Latin America were less than 35 years of age, compared to approximately 15 percent for U.S. and Canada.

“While this finding might be somewhat surprising, it is consistent with the age demography of Latinos living in the U.S. at 27 years of age, compared to the average age for U.S. consumers at 40, and Canadian at 39.5,” states Richard Shapiro, President of TCFCR/ENTREVISTA, and a leading expert in customer retention. As a result of this finding, Shapiro recommends that companies - who are promoting their brands in these newly emerging markets - welcome their new consumers to their brand families. “By telling consumers that you are grateful that they have selected your brand, it will communicate customer appreciation and instill a feeling that the company truly values their business. Brand loyalty for consumers in Latin America needs to be created, as opposed to those in the U.S. and Canada where, in general, the relationship with the brand needs to be maintained or expanded.”

Study Highlights

Approximately 75 percent of the respondents from Latin America engage in social media sites, compared to slightly fewer than 60 percent for U.S. and Canada;

Nearly two-thirds of the consumers shared their comments about the interaction, with 85 percent being either positive or neutral in nature; and

Although the overall satisfaction for respondents in Latin America was somewhat less than for U.S. or Canadian consumers, consumers from Latin America were serviced by contact centers in Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Argentina, etc. and each country has unique cultural and language differences which does present additional challenges over and above responding to the consumers’ question and/or concern.

The overall satisfaction for email-initiated responses was slightly lower than for those consumers who had initiated their contacts via the telephone for the U.S., Canadian and Latin American markets. However, Shapiro recommends that companies who respond to consumer inquiries via email employ more phrases such as “we are so glad you reached out to us,” “we greatly appreciate you, our loyal customer,” and “we are so happy that you decided to try our new brand and that you like it so much.” These types of phrases will assist in conveying a more welcoming feeling to the consumer. Shapiro adds that companies – in an effort to better connect with consumers – should always extend a “personal flair”, especially in situations where there is no human interaction.

“The data collected from this study offers insight on the variances between satisfaction and loyalty for consumers in Latin America, U.S. and Canada who contact consumer affairs departments and provides a foundation of knowledge on how to do an even more effective job of connecting with consumers,” notes Shapiro.

The Center For Client Retention (TCFCR)/ENTREVISTA) are specialists in designing and conducting customized customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement systems for Fortune 100 & 500 corporations since 1988. TCFCR's major goal is to exceed expectations by delivering targeted, actionable and cost-efficient marketing solutions. Founded by Richard Shapiro, the company's mission is to provide clients with the means to document and demonstrate their role in building and retaining customer relationships. ENTREVISTA, a division of TCFCR, designs and conducts bi-lingual / bi-cultural customer satisfaction measurement processes. Range of services include: Competitive benchmarking studies, Executive customer interviews, Customer retention consulting, Hispanic / Latino marketing research services and Social media communications. For more information, log onto www.tcfcr.com.