Call center solutions provider Five9 today announced the results from its annual Call Center Customer Care Benchmarking Study, based on respondents throughout North America.
The survey’s key finding is that companies don’t prioritize good customer service enough in their call centers.
Suggested remedies for this problem include offering 24x7 support, shorter wait times, fewer transfers, and faster call resolution.
“Consumers are becoming savvier and will no longer tolerate sub-optimal service such as being put on hold for long periods of time or being transferred among personnel,” said Liz Roche, managing partner of Customers Incorporated, LLC, in a press release about the survey. “In fact, customers are speaking with their pocketbooks and will not continue to purchase products from companies unable to meet their service requirements.”
Roche said that companies need to offer longer support hours, hire customer representatives who are more knowledgeable, and make sure customers are helped efficiently and correctly the first time they call.
By the numbers, the survey also reports the following findings about customer satisfaction.
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76 percent of respondents said that 24x7 support is either important, or extremely important to their purchasing decisions.
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96 percent of respondents said that a positive experience with a call center increases their sense of brand loyalty.
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70 percent of respondents said they have chosen different products or services, or not made a purchase, due to a bad experience with a call center agent.
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31 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with their experiences with call centers.
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50 percent of respondents said that they were most dissatisfied with call center agents or service in general when the agent was not knowledgeable about the product or service, or could not quickly resolve the issue.
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90 percent of respondents reported experiences in which they became stuck in a self-service menu and were unable to request a live agent.
“It’s not news that customers are the most important part of any organization, but what is surprising is the number of customers who base their vendor choices and purchase decisions on the customer service experience and, in particular, 24x7 availability,” said Brian Silverman, president and CEO of Five9, in a press release.
Silverman added: “With on-demand solutions allowing call centers to use at-home agents, offshoring, and distributed call center models, and add agent seats on-demand, there’s no excuse for a company to have limited customer service.”
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Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.
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