Companies that are focused on delivering a satisfying experience to the customer may or may not be successful in keeping pace with consumer expectations. One of the reasons why could be that expectations are rising faster than standard measurement tools within the contact center can capture.

 

According to recent research, companies in emerging markets like China are experiencing a rise in the customers’ expectations for service and are struggling to keep pace.

The 2007 Accenture (News - Alert) customer service satisfaction survey is the third edition of the report. This year’s edition was expanded to include China, Australia, Brazil, Canada and France. More than half, or 52 percent, of the more than 3,599 consumer respondents surveyed this year reported that their expectations for better service have increased over the past five years.

 

In addition, 33 percent said that they have higher service expectations today than they did just last year. Expectations increased the most among consumers in emerging economies.

In fact, 93 percent of Chinese consumers say that their expectations for better service have increased over the past five years, and 75 percent say that their expectations are higher than they were a year ago.

 

Emerging countries are not the only areas that have experienced problems with meeting customers’ expectations. The Portland Research Group found much room for improvement within U.S. call centers.

Key findings in this research include that as recently as 2004, only three out of five customers, or 59 percent were satisfied with the response they received when contacting a company for assistance.

This report also found that only 50 percent of customers calling into a U.S. company are likely to purchase additional products and/or services from the company they contacted. Customer loyalty also drops by 76 percentage points when a contactor is less than satisfied with the response he or she receives. 

ICMI conducted its own research in which the company conducted a survey on performance metrics. The company found that one in three centers today does not measure customer satisfaction. For centers that do, the most common measurement method if post-contact live phone surveys.

For those contact centers that are searching to improve their customer service deliverables in order to achieve greater customer satisfaction, many are turning to innovation.

Outsourcing firm, Syntel (News - Alert) found that 56 percent of respondents were using innovation to improve customer satisfaction, another 26 percent were using it to create a competitive advantage, and 18 percent use innovation to gain efficiency and increase productivity.

At the end of the day, these contact centers need to be able to implement tools that will enable them to adequately capture customer perception to measure satisfaction in real-time. Until this can be accomplished, these centers will continue to struggle to meet customer expectations.