Customer Contact Has To Be Exceptional

Aspect Software and Lee Shapiro & Associates released an interesting vendor report today. It would seem that customer experience of call centers is still falling short. To put a number on that, about 19% of all customer interactions with the call center. For me that headline here is that companies need to deliver "exceptionally good experiences", only truly exceptional experiences deliver the wow that drives increased loyalty to the company. Even the competently delivered service now results in 1 in 6 customers looking elsewhere. It reminds me of the McKinsey report a few years ago that showed that if a customer called a customer service department for any reason at all, they showed similar patterns of switching behaviors. Some of the Reports Findings:

Customers that have an exceptional experience are more likely to do business with that company; 75% Customers that have a bad experience are less likely to do business with the company, with 60% of these saying they would do much less business with the company. In terms of modality, 73% of all interactions with the call center are still over the telephone, 24% via email, and 3% via chat.

Now for some of the stunners:

only 57% of the exceptional experiences begin with an automated system. Consumers who reach an automated system, rather than a live person, say they will do less business with the company. Sixty-six percent of consumers who had an exceptional experience are more likely to do more business with that company in the future. One in six consumers who had a typical customer experience is likely to switch companies

Many of these concerns play straight into the VoiceSage Click To Call product set. One of the neat things it does is that when a customer clicks, the system only connects you to the relevant operator when they and you are available. Result, zero waiting time, right person contact, live person interaction. Seems to me to be a combination to deliver exceptional performance, as long as the Customer Service person has the information, authority, and empathy required to close the call off on first contact.

technorati tags: customer, interaction, voice, messaging, customer, contact