On December 12, the leading platform for information collection of defective automobile products and acceptance of automobile consumer complaints in China, Car Quality Network, jointly with Carey Saichi Consulting, released the 2022 Voice of Chinese Automobile Customers (VOC+) series of research results, covering the complaint behavior of Chinese passenger car users and the satisfaction of passenger car after sales services, and announced the attribution of various VOC+awards this year.

Tang Weiguo, the chairman and president of Chezi.com and Carey Saichi Consulting, said that in the first 11 months of 2022, the number of effective complaints accepted by Chezi.com exceeded 120000, exceeding the total number of last year. Among them, the number of complaints about service problems increased by 2.1 times compared with 2021, reaching 45,679. Under the new trend, how to more effectively mitigate customer complaints and improve satisfaction, third-party research based on the user perspective has more reference value.

He pointed out that Voice of Customer (VOC) is a comprehensive feedback of consumers on brands, products, services and other contents. It will help enterprises to provide more valuable products and services to customers by accurately understanding the voice of customers. In 2017, Car Quality Network, together with Carey Saichi Consulting, took the lead in introducing the concept of "Voice of Customers (VOC+)" into the domestic automotive industry based on the background that customer enterprise relations are being reshaped in the new era, and launched a series of awards, aiming to effectively solve customer consumption pain points, and ease the public opinion and reputation pressure on after-sales service and brands of automotive enterprises.

The research on customer complaint behavior of China's passenger car users focuses on the customer complaint behavior of the whole passenger car industry. The first research result was released in 2016. The content is based on user feedback on product quality and service problems, covering user complaint behavior, complaint handling, customer complaint mitigation performance and strategies. The core indicator of the study, the Customer Complaint Mitigation Index (CCRI), is a comprehensive index, which includes five evaluation indicators: problem solving satisfaction, post event brand trust, brand product quality perception, willingness to buy again, and willingness to recommend. The higher the score, the higher the efficiency of the operating mechanism. In addition, the index can also help auto enterprises clearly and accurately identify the key items that cause customer dissatisfaction or even complaints, and comprehensively improve customer satisfaction.

Data source and drawing: Carey Saichi Consulting

2022 Research on Complaint Behavior of Chinese Passenger Car Users A survey was conducted on more than 20,000 users of 49 mainstream automobile brands who have complained. The study found that the industry average of passenger car customer complaint mitigation index (CCRI) has continued to decline in recent two years:

▪  In 2022, the industry average of China Passenger Car Complaint Mitigation Index (CCRI) was 358 points (1000 points), falling for two consecutive years. Joint venture brands dropped the most, nearly 70 points, independent brands dropped 63.9 points, and luxury brands increased 25 points;

▪  More users complain to the third party and other multi-channel complaints due to poor resolution after complaining to automobile enterprises and dealers; Repeated complaints fail, and the active complainers are easy to become "complaint leaders", forming collective complaints;

▪  The user hopes to resolve the complaint efficiently. The industry average complaint resolution rate in 2022 is 47.5%, the highest in recent five years, but the problem resolution rate within one week is lower than that in 2021; After the complaint is resolved, more than 40% of the users still do not withdraw the complaint. The main reasons are the solution method, prompt function and continuous observation effect;

▪  Among the eight indicators measuring customer satisfaction with complaint handling, the satisfaction of the four core indicators, namely, solution rationality, maintenance quality, problem solving cost and problem solving time, is lower than the average.

The research suggests that the whole vehicle enterprises should continue to output the vehicle itself, use, service and other information in a way consistent with the current user information acquisition habits, pay attention to the key factors affecting user satisfaction such as maintenance quality and solutions, actively feed back the progress of complaint handling to users, and do a good job of emotional comfort to minimize the negative impact caused by complaints.

Another annual study of Voice of China Automobile Customers (VOC+) is the China Passenger Car After sales Service Satisfaction Study. The research has been carried out for six consecutive years, and car owners have been interviewed by telephone survey. The evaluation system focuses on five dimensions and 24 indicators, including service communication, service personnel, service facilities, service delivery and service quality. The evaluation results represent the satisfaction of consumers with the after-sales service items of authorized auto brand dealers, and have guiding significance for the improvement and perfection of authorized dealer service personnel, service processes, service facilities, etc.

Data source and drawing: Carey Saichi Consulting

2022 China's passenger car after-sales service satisfaction research surveys 42 brands, with an effective sample size of more than 24000. The research found that the after-sales service satisfaction of the users participating in the survey was at the bottom in the past three years:

▪  In 2022, the industry average score of China's passenger car after-sales service satisfaction is 772, which is slightly lower than that in 2021 and 2020; The performance of luxury brands is higher than the average level, the distance between independent brands and the average value is weak, and the gap between joint venture brands is the largest;

▪  The competition between authorized dealers and social channels for customers has become increasingly fierce. Compared with 2021, the number of users who have always been in the maintenance of authorized dealers has decreased by 13.1%, and the number of first purchase users and users aged 21-39 has decreased compared with 2021. The proportion of users who only choose social channels has increased by 8 percentage points;

▪  The key items in service quality, such as the low satisfaction of the ability to repair for the first time and correctly diagnose problems, are the focus of future improvement;

▪  Among the key implementation items of authorized dealers, service calls and SMS reminders, core parts display and asking users for advice are the pain points.

The report points out that the warranty period is a critical period for users to change the maintenance channel. Authorized dealers should make full use of this period to find out users' pain points, give priority to improving the service level of projects with low implementation rate and high impact on satisfaction, and expand value-added services such as extended warranty; It is also suggested to dig deep into the service gap between our own and social channels, and conduct targeted publicity and more coverage of service scenarios in combination with the reasons for user channel selection.

2022 VOC+research also found that in the course of research, some brands have attached great importance to and effectively solved user complaints in the past year, won user recognition, and become winners of outstanding contribution awards and after-sales service benchmarking awards.

The Outstanding Contribution Award and After sales Service Benchmark Award are the results of evaluation based on the enterprise's emphasis on customer complaints and resolution efficiency for automotive consumers, which reflect the process and effect of the enterprise's active response to customer demands and high-quality and efficient problem solving. Among them, the brands that have won the Outstanding Contribution Award have made great efforts in this process.

In 2022, Nezha Automobile and SAIC Motor won the Outstanding Contribution Award.

After sales service benchmark brands have won (in no particular order): FAW Audi, BYD, Dongfeng Honda, Chang'an Automobile, Chang'an Deep Blue, Dongfeng Xiaokang, FAW Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen/Volkswagen brand, GAC Toyota, GAC Trumpchi, Geely Automobile, FAW Volkswagen Jetta, Chang'an Mazda, Chery Automobile, SAIC MAXUS, SAIC GM.

In addition, the after-sales service satisfaction award was won by Great Wall Haval, Jiangsu Yueda Kia and Volvo. These three brands are the first independent brand, joint venture brand and luxury brand in the 2022 China Passenger Car After sales Service Satisfaction Study.