Call Center QA Featured Article
Customer Service is More Important than You Think
Common wisdom would suggest that although customer service is important, it is not usually the deciding factor for consumers when it comes to choosing a product. Price, naturally, is the ultimate influence. However, a new survey conducted by CreditDonkey, released this week, demonstrates that customer service plays a much larger role than common wisdom would otherwise dictate.
According to the survey, 48 percent of respondents said they are more likely to choose better service over lower price, if they had to choose between the two. So, companies that neglect this aspect of their business could be losing out on nearly half of their potential customer base! What’s more, 56 percent of respondents claimed that they would choose better service over convenience. Clearly, consumers care a great deal about how they are treated and the quality at which their concerns are addressed.
"The survey results should serve as a wake-up call for companies of every size," said CreditDonkey Founder Charles Tran, in a statement. "In this high-tech, fast-paced era, people want companies to respond to their concerns and questions with personalized service. Over 80% of our respondents said they have not bought something because they weren't happy with the customer service they were getting."
The results also show that smaller businesses do a better job at understanding and interacting with their customers, with 94.3 percent of respondents saying their customer service experiences with small companies met or exceeded expectations, versus 64.1 percent for big businesses. Small businesses were shown to better anticipate the needs and problems of their customers, and consistently said “thank you” and followed up when needed.
While big businesses certainly need to take action in this regard, there is still room for improvement for small businesses as well. To avoid losing out on a potential 48 percent of customers, businesses of all sizes need to focus on improving their customer service initiatives.
Fortunately, companies can utilize 3rd party remote call monitoring services to efficiently and proactively gain insight into their call center agents’ behavior and performance, identifying customer trends and best practices for future reference. Call monitoring services allow call center managers to gain valuable and actionable feedback regarding agent performance, which can then be shared with agents in a highly constructive way. An experienced team of 3rd party researchers and call center experts review and score recorded calls, while freeing up call center teams to address customer issues.
By regularly and critically monitoring customer service interactions, an organization’s call center agents can be better prepared to anticipate the need, problems, and desires of their customer base, leading to happier customers and increased revenue.
Edited by Jamie Epstein
