Why do customers keep chasing?

Whether it's:
- a tenant chasing a repair job that was started but not finished,
- a policyholder chasing for an update on a claim,
- a customer wanting to know if their life insurance application has been approved, or
- a shopper chasing delivery of goods they ordered a week ago...

the customer behaviour is remarkably similar. Customers don't chase because they want to, they chase because something is uncertain:

- there's no sign of progress
- things are taking longer than promised
- they can't see what's happening
- nobody seems to be taking ownership

It's demand that only exists because the service isn't working for the customer.

Once chasing starts, costs rise quickly. Calls take longer as time is spent apologising and then searching for information that might help the customer - reading through previous notes, calling another team for an update, or sending a Teams message or an email. The latter inevitably requires the customer to wait again, and is likely to drive further chasing calls if the answer doesn't arrive quickly.

Many organisations lack visibility of how much "chasing" demand exists, what's causing it, and how to prevent it.

Very few step back and think about how their service delivery model could be creating this customer frustration.

Until they do, chasing demand will keep being manufactured - whatever channel the customer is using.