[December 03, 2012]

Customer Service Falling Down on the "Customer" Part of the Job, According to SugarCRM/Harris Interactive Survey

U.S. adults believe the customer part of "customer service" is in short supply and believe that they're treated like strangers by the companies from which they seek support, according to a new survey from SugarCRM, the market-leading customer relationship management (CRM) company that enables effective customer engagement enterprise-wide. This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of SugarCRM (News - Alert) from July 23^rd-25^th, 2012 among 2,236 U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

U.S. adults indicated that they have experienced frustration with the companies they do business with, finding that customer service reps know little about their history with the business or fail at solving their problems. In fact, 75 percent of those who have ever called customer support reported that they are frustrated because the customer support department is not aware of their history as a customer with the organization/company. In addition, 52 percent said that they have had a negative experience with a sales representative that ultimately caused them to not buy the product or service from the company. These percentages reflect phone-based customer service specifically.

With social media gaining traction in how customer service is handled today, the level of frustration is even higher among those who have communicated with customer service using these channels versus those who have only done so via the phone. 81 percent who have sought customer service via social media channels said they are frustrated when the customer support department is not aware of their history as a customer with the organization/company. 74 percent said that they have had a negative experience with a sales representative that ultimately caused them to not buy the product or service from the company.

"Whether customers are seeking service by traditional or social media channels, this survey shows that they are incredibly disillusioned by the lack of customer expertise they're encountering in the businesses they rely on," said Larry Augustin, CEO of SugarCRM. "These findings should offer a wake-up call to all companies whose existence depends on happy customers. It's clear that businesses need to do a far better job of providing each customer facing professional with the information they need to understand and effectively engage with their customers. Businesses need to make every customer facing user an instant customer expert: they must understand the individual they are speaking with and ensure every interaction drives value for the customer This is the next generation of CRM."

More results from the SugarCRM/Harris Interactive (News - Alert) survey are as follows:

• 42 percent said they have had a negative experience with a sales rep that has led them to request a new rep
• 42 percent said that after a call with a sales rep, they do not receive the assistance they were promised.
• 41 percent of adults who have ever called customer support said they have had to escalate their call with a customer service rep to a supervisor to get their problem resolved.
• 29 percent of adults believe the government sector (for example, motor vehicle departments or the U.S. Postal Service) has the worst customer service.

An infographic depicting the SugarCRM/Harris Interactive customer service survey results is available on the SugarCRM website.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of SugarCRM from July 23-July 25, 2012 among 2,236 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Kevin Cheng at Sparkpr for SugarCRM at kcheng@sparkpr.com.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM democratizes customer engagement, empowering every professional who interacts with the customer to excel at their job. SugarCRM's market leading open Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform delivers the agility, flexibility, and security required to equip each customer facing professional with the information and tools they need to effectively collaborate and engage with their customer, both within and beyond the enterprise. SugarCRM applications have been downloaded more than 11 million times and currently help over 1,000,000 end users across disciplines effectively engage their customers. More than 6,000 paid subscription customers have chosen SugarCRM's On-Site and Cloud Computing services over proprietary alternatives. SugarCRM has been recognized for its customer success and product innovation by CRM Magazine, InfoWorld and Customer Interaction Solutions.

For more information, call (408) 454-6900 or 1 87 SUGARCRM toll-free in the US, email contact@sugarcrm.com, or visit www.sugarcrm.com. You can also connect with SugarCRM on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll® and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research. Harris possesses expertise in a wide range of industries including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing our client's research investment. Serving clients in more than 215 countries and territories through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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