A new Nuance study reveals what many observers are suspecting: today’s savvy consumers prefer mobile to landline and prefer automated systems for basic interactions and transactions but too often neither automated or live agent systems do not deliver what they want.

Using TwtSurvey Nuance Communications (News - Alert) posted an online survey Aug.17-24, 2010 with multiple choice questions to gather input from consumers about their experiences, pet peeves and preferences when it comes to calling customer care.

Here are the key findings:

*          69 percent prefer to contact the contact center with their mobile device versus a land line phone, online or any other method

*          Respondents preferred to use automated systems over live agents for flight/train status (77 percent), get store location and/or hours of operation (69 percent), check account balance, payments due, etc. (54 percent) and refill prescription or place another type of retail order (54 percent). A strong minority also used online to pay bills (46 percent)

*          Automated systems were significant less popular for checking status of insurance claims (38 percent) and updating personal account information (23 percent)

*          Consumers’ biggest pet peeves when it comes to interacting with contact centers are, in rank order:

1.         “Takes too long to get what I need” (92 percent)

2.         “The system doesn’t offer me the option I’m looking for (85 percent)

3.         Long wait times to speak with a live agent (85 percent)

4.         “The live agent doesn’t have the information I’ve already provided to the automated system (69 percent)

5.         “The system doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say” (62 percent)6.         “The menu options are confusing” (54 percent)

7.         “The system or agent can’t help me and gives me another number to call” (46 percent)8.         “The system requires a password that I don’t have available (38 percent)

Nuance also asked what makes a great experience with an automated speech-enabled customer service system.

*          77 percent of consumers surveyed rated the following favorable or very favorable: “I don’t have to repeat myself if/when I’m transferred to an agent” and “The system understands me the first time.”

*          69 percent of respondents gave the same positive reaction to “The ability to answer questions verbally without selecting from a list” and “The system steers me to the correct destination.”

Nuance identified these key take-aways for contact centers:

*          It’s clear that companies need to factor the growth of mobile into their contact center strategies, because the majority of consumers prefer to contact customer care with their mobile device versus a landline phone, through the Internet or any other method*          Consumers’ three biggest pet peeves about contacting customer care are: taking too long to get what they need, the system doesn’t offer the menu option the customer is looking for, and long wait times to speak with a live agent *          Consumers prefer automated customer care for many basic needs – for example, checking account balances, making payments, checking status for travel (e.g. airlines, trains, etc.), and checking addresses and business hours.

“Companies should make sure they’re designing their customer care system to automate functions like these,” says Nuance*          Companies that want to automate more calls need to ensure their speech recognition system understands callers the first time, steers callers to the right destination, doesn’t require a caller to repeat him/herself if transferred to an agent, and allows customers to speak their selections naturally rather than choosing from a pre-set menu