Study: 50% of consumers desert after poor customer service

Half of all consumers stop doing business with a company partly or wholly due to a poor customer service experience, according to a recent international survey.

The study of more than 4,300 consumers found that customer service is a critical driver of profitability and satisfaction, with more than 75% of consumers saying they would give more business to a company based on a great contact centre experience.

More than 61% of consumers see call centres as doing a better job than three years ago, according to a recent international survey.

Despite some continued pockets of frustration, 23% of all consumers found their experience "significantly better", an additional 38% felt it was "somewhat better", while only 12% thought it was worse.

The survey, which measures consumer likes, dislikes and frustrations with contact centres and automated customer service systems, was commissioned by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company.

“Given the direct impact of contact centre performance on customer loyalty," said Wes Hayden, president and CEO of Genesys, "successful companies must take every opportunity to connect with their customers to create a positive experience.

“Customer service is improving, but the expectations of consumers are going up as well. As the world market becomes more competitive, the most successful companies are ones that make the best use of every channel and every interaction.

“Companies should engage their customers with a well-planned and executed contact centre strategy.”

Its findings also indicated that, while investments in technology and self-service are starting to pay off, consumers increasingly want better multi-channel service, through SMS, email and other new media.

When it comes to new channels, 86% of consumers want e-mail communication and more than 45% of consumers would like e-mail to become their primary communication vehicle.

Speed of communication is critical, however, with 21% expecting a one-hour response time - up from 6% with that expectation in a similar survey in 2003.

An additional 17% of consumers expect an e-mail response within 4 hours, and 47% within 24 hours.

In addition, 19% would like web chat (instant messaging) and 17% want SMS text messages.

Surprisingly, more than 89% of consumers would like to receive proactive communications from companies, by phone or text, to keep them informed about service delivery and/or other products and services that may be of interest to them.

Proactive communications offer a way of creating a positive image with customers. According to the survey, 87% of customers would have a more positive opinion of a supplier after receiving a courtesy call to thank them for their business or to ask about their satisfaction; however, only 43% have received such a call.