USPS Office of Inspector General

Americans are a mobile bunch. Last year, the U.S. Postal Service processed nearly 37 million change of address (COA) requests, with most of them (20.6 million) submitted as hardcopy requests.

With COA service, residential and business customers can have their mail forwarded to a new address when they move. It’s a convenient and reliable service, but it has also generated some long-standing concerns about protecting privacy and personal information. Congress recurrently asks us to review the COA service, as it did earlier this year.

From the consumer’s perspective, the best possible result of calling customer service is a short conversation that resolves the issue. From a business’s standpoint, preventing that call in the first place is the ultimate goal.

Of course, no product or service is perfect, so customer service will always be a part of a business model. Improving that experience is key to satisfying and retaining customers. The goal, it seems, would be to make customer service efficient and responsive.

It’s a lot less expensive to retain a current customer than to acquire a new one. That’s a timeless marketing adage for a reason: it’s true.

In fact, it may never be truer than in today’s economy. Customers have an unprecedented array of choices and easy access to global products and services. If you can’t keep them happy, they’ll find someone who can. That’s why businesses work hard to reduce churn, the attrition or turnover of customers.