YardLink’s Neeral Shah examines the perceived decline in customer service in UK construction and how the industry can turn things around
We’ve been glad to see the construction sector return to growth in 2024’s second quarter after six months of decline. Although the 0.5 point rise to 50.2 on S&P Global’s purchasing managers index score represents a small win, it is nevertheless a win after a challenging period.
However, conversations we’re having with suppliers and contractors across the supply chain give cause for concern about whether this growth will continue. One frustration that almost never fails to come up is customer service, which is declining in quality.
More and more stakeholders we meet say they’ve now learnt to anticipate service issues. This concerns me because the construction sector won’t thrive without reliable customer service. Businesses must be able to retain positive relationships if they want to sustain growth. We must turn this around.
A decline in customer service quality
This decline in the quality of customer service across the industry can, in part, be attributed to several years of difficult business. Through the pandemic, energy crisis, and the more recent recession, construction businesses have had critical issues to address. That’s easy to appreciate.
But in such circumstances, it’s easy to fall behind – too far behind – in other areas. And, in customer service, that can spell serious trouble for the long term. This is clear to see when we compare construction’s Net Promoter Scores with other industries.
Financial services, technology, and manufacturing all achieve NPS scores above 60. These scores suggest that those industries are, to an extent, maintaining customer satisfaction. Construction, however, is sitting at a comparatively meagre 37, which dropped 23 points from 2023.
These industries have experienced the same stressors as construction over the past few years. So how have they been able to maintain their customers’ satisfaction, and why has construction fallen behind the pack?
The industry is ready for its digital transformation moment
The reason for the now stark difference between construction and other industries is, I believe, due to technology. Banking, for example, which is achieving an overall NPS of 73, has adopted advanced customer experience technologies. On the other hand, YardLink’s own research revealed that 65% of construction companies, however, still use outdated means of procurement.
A quarter of the procurement managers who participated in our research reported experiencing rudeness or bad customer service from suppliers across the industry. Another 30% had been affected by damaged, faulty, or unhygienic equipment. These inefficient means of customer service reduce its quality.
Over a quarter of those who responded to our survey had experienced service delays, directly affecting their experience. When we asked what their biggest challenges were, a third cited a lack of digital tools and innovation.
It’s clear that the industry is fostering a problem here that will only get worse unless we do something about it. This moment of growth could, and should, be a turning point. The industry is ready for its digital transformation moment.
Initiating a wider innovation movement
Construction companies can start by embracing CRM and customer support platforms like HubSpot or Zendesk, which are common in other industries. These will give them centralised platforms to manage their customer relationships. They will also automate many communication processes and enhance collaboration among project stakeholders.
These platforms can also be especially beneficial to customer relationships because they offer the possibility of developing single sources of truth. Data from digitised customer touchpoints—project progress tracking, communication channels, queries, and service requests—can be unified in one place. This enables much more efficient access to critical information, facilitating more accurate interactions and, ultimately, better customer service.
We need to think radically here. The construction industry has become so stuck in its old ways that many now struggle to imagine it in any other way. But this is exactly what we must do to find a better path forward: envision a different future for our industry.
It is possible to transform construction into an industry where customers can order with the same confidence and convenience as consumers when using Deliveroo or Amazon. The communications, the tracking, the transparent issue resolutions—they’re all possible.
Through technology, construction could transform its customer experiences, as we’ve seen in banking and other sectors. By offering centralised sources of truth facilitated by digital platforms, construction firms can raise the bar on customer service once again.
To thrive now, the industry must be bold and imagine a new mode of operation. Digital transformation is crucial to that. And through it, we can all achieve the growth we desire in an evolving business landscape.
