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SIEMENS: Don't keep me hanging on the telephone; 58% of callers get
through to UK's Top 50 Call Centres in 60 seconds or less; Retail
sector boasts shortest call centre queues
(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
RDATE:16092008
New independent research, commissioned by fifty of the UK's leading
call centres, as part of The Top 50 Call Centre initiative, sponsored
by Siemens, shows that 93% of their customers get through to the call
centre on their first attempt. This figure rose to 98% in the retail
sector, followed by 95% in the financial services and entertainment,
leisure and travel sectors. The public sector performed least well at
87%, lagging behind the telecoms and utilities sector at 90%.
Even more impressive, a staggering 96% of customer enquiries were
resolved by the initial call. The retail sector performed best in this
area, achieving a 98% first call resolution rate, closely followed by
the financial services and telecoms & utilities sectors at 97%. The
figure fell to 92% in the Public Sector, four per cent below the
entertainment, travel and leisure sector in fourth place.
The findings are taken from the largest ever mystery shopper exercise
in the call centre industry, conducted by independent Market Research
Company GfK NOP. Full findings will be published in October 2008.
Twenty thousand calls were made to the fifty call centres who have
signed up to the Top 50 Call Centre initiative, which aims to
recognisegood practice and raise customer service standards across the
industry.
The survey showed it takes on average just 1.3 minutes for customers of
the Top 50 Call Centres to get through to speak to an actual person.
The figure includes time waiting to get through, as well as time spent
selecting IVR or touch-tone options, before getting through to a
customer service representative.
On an encouraging note, 58% of callers in the survey got through to a
Customer Service Representative in less than one minute. The retail
sector provided the fastest time to get through for customers, with 74%
of callers getting through within 60 seconds, closely followed by the
financial services sector at 60%. The telecoms and utilities sector was
the lowest performing, at 52%, just ahead of the entertainment, leisure
and travel and public sectors, both at 53%.
A small percentage of customers, at 5% had to wait over five minutes to
get through to a call centre representative. However, interestingly,
over one in four of these callers said they are extremely satisfied by
their experience. This finding suggests that UK consumers can still be
won over by good service, even if they have to wait in a call centre
queue.
Sorry seems to be the hardest word
The research also highlighted one area for improvement: where callers
had to wait more than one minute to get through, only 27% received an
apology for the delay. Retail once again recorded the highest score
here at 35%, against the lowest at 20% in the Entertainment, Leisure
and Travel sector
Claudia Hathway, Editor of Call Centre Focus comments: "It is great to
see so many of the UK's leading callcentresget together to find out how
they are performing, by asking their customers. That has to be the
ultimate test for any call centre. Speed of response has long been the
bugbear of UK consumers, but this research proves categorically that,
in this area, many of the UK's leading callcentresare getting it right."
Organisations who have signed up to the Top 50 Call Centre initiative
include: Boots, BUPA, Cambridgeshire County Council, Comet,
Co-operative Financial Services, Direct Line, DVLA, EDF Energy,
Eurostar, First Direct, Holiday Extras, ING Direct, John Lewis Direct,
Kent County Council, Laithwaites, LEGO, Lloyds TSB Insurance, M&S
Direct, Nationwide Direct, O2 UK, P&O Ferries, Prudential, Specsavers
Optical Superstores, Surrey County Council, Tesco Personal Finance,
Thomas Cook, United Utilities, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Vodafone.
Notes to Editors
Research methodology
In total, 400 calls were made to each of 50 organisations - resulting
in a total sample of 20,000 calls. The mystery shopping exercise is
based on a comprehensive analysis of call centre service in five key
areas. The report will be published in October 2008.
Calls were split across customer and non-customer assessor profiles and
across simple and more complex enquiries. Assessors were profiled as
closely as possible to the organisation they were calling and used
their real background, contact details to maximise their credibility.
Where appropriate to the scenario in question, they had policy numbers;
customer reference numbers etc. to hand in case they were asked for
these to resolve their enquiry.
Scenarios were constructed so as to be comparable across all
organisations and sectors involved. Examples are shown below:
Entertainment, Leisure & Travel
Flight, holiday and accommodation quotes and enquiries, fares and
schedules, facilities for children / disabled customers / elderly
customers, parking, changing dates,
Financial Services & Insurance
Requests for balances / information on recent transactions / standing
orders, product / service enquiries, excess charges, insurance quotes
(including non-standard risk profiles), checking policy details,
changing policy details
Public Sector
Enquiries about services (such as libraries, recycling, social
housing), costs of services, appointment booking, enquiries about
benefits / taxes
Retail & Distribution
Store card enquiries, opening times, appointment booking, enquiries
about refund processes, catalogue ordering, product detail enquiries
Telecoms & Utilities
Enquiries about product packages / add-ons, price objections, payment
and balance enquiries
Trained mystery shoppers were used for the calling and restrictions
were placed on the number of calls made by individual assessors. On
the customer' scenarios and those where contact details may be
requested, shoppers were limited to no more than 1 call per
organisation.
Calls were made between May and August 2008.
About Call Centre Focus
Call Centre Focus is the UK's leading monthly magazine covering all
aspects of the call centre industry and customer service in general.
Articles give practical advice and tips on how to ensure successful and
effective customer contact and the regularly updated website
(www.callcentre.co.uk) ensures that readers are kept abreast of the
very latest market news. In short, it is a one-stop-shop for call
centre professionals everywhere.
About Top 50 CallCentres
The Top 50 Call Centre initiative is a benchmarking exercise, in
partnership with GfK NOP, a leading independent market research
organisation, and sponsored by Siemens, that aims to help call centres
find out how the general public thinks they are performing through over
20,000 mystery shopping calls, half of these from current customers of
each independent call centre.
Calls will be rated for customer service criteria identified by the
customers themselves including timeliness, ease of use, reliability,
staff knowledge and personalisation. The calls will reflect different
enquiry types from simple requests to more complex enquiries, truly
reflecting the range of calls the call centre receives. They will take
place at different times of day, during peak and non peak periods,
including weekends.
About Siemens Enterprise Communications
Siemens Enterprise Communicationsis one of the world's leading
suppliers of Unified Communications technologies. The company's unique
Open Communications approach to providing software, solutions and
services for enterprises of all sizes enables business processes to be
more productive, faster and more secure - with any device, network or
information technology infrastructure.
CONTACT: Sarah-Anne Bray, Media contact, Wildfire PR
Tel: +44 (0)208 339 4420
e-mail: Top50@wildfirepr.co.uk
((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information
provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties.
Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at
http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to
info@m2.com)).
Copyright ? 2008 M2 Communications Ltd.
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