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Call Centers Should Help Customers Escape 'On-Hold Pain', Says Aspect Software

3rd Party Remote Call Monitoring Feature

September 05, 2013

Call Centers Should Help Customers Escape 'On-Hold Pain', Says Aspect Software

By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributor

Call center interactions are not always that exciting; and for many us, the experience has been frustrating, having to hold the line for a long time or deal with inexperienced agents who are not able to address our issues in an efficient manner. All of this affects the productivity of a caller.


In fact a recent survey from Aspect Software found that on average, we could be spending more than 31 hours of adult lives on hold with call centers.

The survey, which tries to analyze the user behavior with call centers, also finds that callers are likely to lose attention after waiting for a long time; by the time they get to speak to an agent, their attention might get diverted elsewhere.

The survey, which was conducted on 1,000 UK consumers over the age of 16, has revealed that most of the callers choose to pursue less productive activities while waiting, while 34 percent of adults claim they do nothing whatsoever. Incredibly, one percent of them fall asleep while on hold with a call center agent.

Doodling is a popular habit among callers who are forced to hold on for a long time. The survey found women are more likely to doodle than men, and they seem to enjoy this activity as it brings some creative results. Doodling also aids in improving people’s memory.

Older respondents perform better in terms of spending their call waiting time prudently, like surfing the Internet or doing some other useful work. Some of them also try to contact the company through alternate channels.

Aspect (News - Alert) suggests call centers have the responsibility not to bore customers while keeping them waiting.

Sarah Pallett, head of marketing in Europe & Africa at Aspect, said, “Essentially, the best customer service departments should ensure that they engage the caller, not bore them. Yet with 94 percent of consumers admitting that they have had to frustratingly repeat themselves while on the phone to a customer service agent, it is clear that it is not just the doodlers who aren’t paying enough attention.”

With the emergence of multi-channel communications, there has been drastic change in customer interaction methods. Customers are now able to communicate with call centers through a number of avenues. The availability of these channels has also altered the dynamics of their relationship with contact centers and has increased their overall service expectations.

However, the disappointing fact is that most call centers have not taken appropriate measures to understand and respond to recent changes in customers’ attitude. According to Pallett, this is one of the reasons why consumer experiences are falling short.

“Fundamentally, consumers are no longer satisfied with the service that is provided. They rely on emails and social media as much as their phones nowadays, but companies have yet to provide more than just basic access on these multiple channels; the transition should be seamless,” Pallett said.




Edited by Blaise McNamee
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