Why Japan’s Customer Service is the Best in the World

June 23, 2017

Japan is renowned for its impeccable customer service which has become a standard in almost every industry in the country.

While some observers have earlier explained that this was due to the Japanese being naturally humble and respectful, a more realistic reason for Japan’s service standards was recently revealed, reports SoraNews24.

In a recent survey conducted by American Express International, Japanese customer service is one of the best in the world because customers in Japan have very little tolerance for terrible service.

A significant majority expect businesses to get it right the first time around, or else they take their money somewhere else.

In the study, researchers asked 1,000 respondents per each country about their customer service expectations toward companies.

Among the sampled nations include Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S.

The research team asked how many instances of poor customer service experience does it take before the participant decides to take their business elsewhere. The results offer some very telling data on customer attitude which businesses must always consider.

“I take my business elsewhere after one bad service experience.”

● Canada: 32%
● Hong Kong: 23%
● India: 31%
● Italy: 32%
● Japan: 56%
● Mexico: 30%
● Singapore: 33%
● U.K.: 37%
● U.S.: 32%

The findings revealed that Hong Kong customers are the most tolerant while the British are the second most demanding.

However, Japanese customers are shown to be significantly the least forgiving of the bunch, topping the survey for having 56% of the respondents saying they’d be spending their money somewhere else after just one bad customer service experience.

As Rikkyo University researcher Shunichi Nozaki pointed out, Japanese customers would rather move on to a competitor than complain to a company about a terrible experience.

This means that, in Japan, it is certainly a must do for owners to ensure customers are always satisfied for their businesses to succeed. The customer behavior has taken companies to task in providing excellent service, creating a snowball effect that raises the bar for all the industries.

Feature Image via Wikimedia Commons / Akuppa John Wigham (CC BY 2.0)

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