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Customer Service: New Research indicates Poor Quality Service from your Call Centre operation will threaten your Business

This is an article by David Simpson of Mainstream Marketing.

The new research, carried out by leading market researcher GfK NOP Consumer, coincides with the launch of the UK’s biggest ever industry-wide mystery shopping study to find the country’s Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service. This independent initiative, led by Call Centre Focus magazine, aims to recognise good practice and raise customer service standards across the industry.

The research focused primarily on the B2C experience but as sure as eggs are eggs, the same results would be reflected in a survey of a company’s B2B Call Centre operation. The results & comments below have been abridged for the sake of brevity but they show a marked trend towards the necessity of the “personal” experience of the face of your organisation (i.e. telephone contact) being too important to leave to chance.

Findings include:

* 69% of UK consumers would be less likely to purchase after a negative call centre experience, rising to 75% amongst 16-44 year olds
* Seven out of ten customers say they might or would definitely tell someone about a negative call centre experience
* Almost half of 25-44 year olds have changed suppliers because of a negative call centre experience compared to 35% across whole population

The growing importance of word of mouth recommendations was highlighted by the research, particularly amongst younger consumers, with 51% of 16-24 year olds saying they would definitely tell someone about a negative call centre experience, compared to 38% of 45-54 year olds.

Dr. Max Blumberg, Customer Management Strategist and Visiting Researcher at the University of London, who specialises in motivating workforces, leadership teams and sales forces said:

“Companies need to understand that the service provided by call centres is a key component of brand value in driving customer acquisition and repeat purchasing; it is no longer enough to focus on product and price alone. Consumers take a more holistic view of value when making purchasing decisions and the UK’s most affluent demographic groups are most likely to wield their buying power by changing suppliers.

“Yet even though the importance of customer service is well established many companies invest more in innovative product development and pricing strategies than they do in customer-oriented call-centre strategies. These companies usually end up with fantastic, well-priced products, but with markets that will not buy them because of personal or word-of-mouth negative call-centre experiences.

The research also revealed that good customer service can produce powerful brand advocates with 49% saying they would be more loyal to a company after a positive call centre experience and 23% saying they would definitely recommend an organisation to other people.

When asked to select the three most important aspects of customer service, friendly agents were seen as key by 53% of consumers, alongside speed of call answering (57%) and knowledgeable agents (49%).  These qualities were seen as much more important than having their problems resolved in a single call (41%), being told their position in the queue while on hold (21%) and agents having access to their account history (20%).

The highlighted text is our own and indicates Mainstream Marketing’s opinion on some of the key facts that this research has revealed.

To find out how to approach your customers in a Positive, Friendly and Profitable manner, contact

David Simpson

Mainstream Marketing

01483 456700

www.msm-uk.co.uk

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