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Stop me if you've heard this one before:

A happy customer will tell five people about their experience while an unhappy customer will tell ten people. That statistic has been part of customer service folklore for decades.

But where did it come from?

It originated in a study commissioned by The Coca-Cola Company in 1980 to evaluate the impact of handling complaints lodged with its consumer affairs department. This was one of the first efforts to quantify the impact of good customer service, and the results were eye-opening:

Nearly 10 percent of fully satisfied customers bought more Coca-Cola products.
Roughly 75 percent of dissatisfied customers purchased fewer Coca-Cola products, including more than 30 percent who stopped buying altogether.

John Goodman, one of the study's authors, recently joined me for a short interview to discuss his new book, the second edition of Strategic Customer Service. This is a must-have resource for any customer service leader who wants to make an impact on their business.

If you’re like me, and you nerd out on customer service data, you’ll love this conversation. We discuss:

The impact of customer service on word-of-mouth advertising.
Ways that companies can proactively deliver outstanding service.
How "customer onboarding" is a pain point in many companies.
What service leaders can do to become more comfortable with business metrics.
One tip you can implement immediately to improve service.

You can watch the interview here.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and reference it several times in my own book, Getting Service Right. You can find Strategic Customer Service on Amazon.