“CCMC’s [Customer Care Measurement and Consulting] Customer Rage Study is an independent analysis of the state of corporate complaint handling in America. The Customer Rage Study offers a clear comparison of customer satisfaction with corporate customer care efforts across decades. A leader in the customer care movement for nearly 45 years, CCMC principals’ work has contributed to a fundamental shift in business’ customer care attitude over the decades. Businesses have moved from what was us versus them thinking to an understanding that customer care is fundamental to business success. CCMC’s Marc Grainer and John Goodman were involved in the seminal 1976 White House Study that provided a host of provocative and first-ever insights about American customer care and its potential for profit-making.

Key findings that initially caught business’ attention included:

1. A positive relationship between complaining and continued brand loyalty – a relationship that, in 1976, applied even when complaints were not satisfactorily resolved; and
2. When complaint handling resulted in satisfied customers, businesses could experience a very favorable return on investment.

As a result of this study, corporate America reevaluated the worth of complaint-handling practices and invested billions of additional dollars in customer care…”