5 things to learn from the failure of PPI initiatives

Find out important lessons that businesses can use to regain profitability and customers.

11:13 16 May 2013

Payment Protection Insurance has been a source of grief for many people in the UK who were intentionally, or unintentionally, sold a product that they didn’t even qualify for, or in some cases ask for. The idea behind Payment Protection Insurance was great and offered a true benefit, but what resulted holds lessons for businesses everywhere.

 

What can we learn from the Payment Protection Insurance debacle?

 

• True value—in order for something to have true value, it must offer a benefit to your customer and it must be a reasonable cost for the benefit offered.

 

• Choice—most importantly demonstrated in the Payment Protection Insurance issue is that a customer’s choice needs to be respected. They need to have the ability to accept or decline an offer if it isn’t right for them.

 

• Demographics—at the very least businesses need to know the demographics of their customers and understand that not everyone will want, need, or be able to afford such a product.

 

• Targets—pushing company representatives to sell a minimum amount of any service or product creates stress for the employees, which is often times translated to the customer and results in unhappy customers and employees. This also has the additional effect of causing higher turnover at companies, poor morale, depression, health issues, and loss of customers.

 

• People come first—the most important reminder, perhaps, in all of the debate about Payment Protection Insurance is that one of the “golden” rules was forgotten. Banks, like many companies across the globe, ceased putting the needs and wants of their customers first to instead focus on profitability and numbers.

 

There is much more to learn from the episode with Payment Protection Insurance but companies, at the very least, can remember that customers keep them in business and remain focused on customer desires it will have a positive impact and create a proper balance between customers and profitability.