Author:  Gary Barnett

Consulting company Accenture recently released the results of its annual technology industry customer support and service surveys.  The company reported that 78% of consumers still believe their provider’s customer service is at or below the level of service offered by competitors, and 57% of consumers describe themselves as somewhat upset, very upset or extremely upset when they accessed customer service channels from their providers. In addition, Accenture said that more than three quarters of the companies in their survey had implemented new customer self-service capabilities, but more than half of consumers rated their experiences the same or worse than they were before the new capabilities. 

So, what, exactly, do all of these figures mean to your business?  The fact is satisfaction and a consumer’s contact center experience play significant roles in how much business they will conduct with your company in the future. According to the contact center satisfaction survey that Aspect Software sponsored in 2007, nearly three quarters of the consumers who have bad experiences will conduct less business with your company, and 60% of those say they will do much less business.  Those are pretty steep consequences! The good news is that half of the consumers who have good interactions will conduct more business with your company.  These are some meaningful stats you can’t ignore.

In terms of self service, the failing grade that consumers give automated systems can easily translate into an increase or decrease in revenue. The Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index shows that 6% more of the consumers who immediately reach an automated system will conduct less business with a company than those who speak directly with live agents. On the other hand, a consumer who is satisfied with how an automated system works is two-and-a-half to three times more likely to conduct future business with a company.

While the statistics are important, the business impacts of these findings are even more valuable. Take them to heart!  If you don’t, your competitors will.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Customer Service/Consumer Demands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.