A survey by YouGov indicates that a quarter of UK young people have switched mobile service provider as a result of bad call centre customer service.
The survey, of over 2,000 UK mobile users, conducted for software provider Corizon, found that the situation was almost as severe across the broader population. Overall, 1 in 5 (19%) users across all age groups have switched mobile operator at least once due to inadequate service from their customer call centre. A further quarter of those polled (27%) have considered doing so.
These figures will alarm mobile service providers for whom customer churn is a major threat to their businesses. With UK mobile saturation at over 90%, competition between mobile operators has never been fiercer, yet customers clearly have little brand loyalty. Customer defection in the lucrative 18-29 age bracket will be of particular concern to operators who look to this demographic to make up a significant part of their revenues. This age group is also the heaviest users of call centres.
Overall dissatisfaction was high, with over 40% of users polled saying they were unhappy with the customer service they receive from their mobile operators call centre.
The survey showed that much of the frustration was caused by the amount of time it took call centre agents to deal with queries, once a customer was connected. Almost a third of people (31%) said they were kept on the line for more than ten minutes while an agent dealt with their enquiry.
The five major customer pain-points were, as identified by respondents:
1. Having to repeat a query to more than one agent (41%)
2. Being kept on hold too long (32%)
3. Being asked for same details again and again (29%)
4. The agent lacked the necessary knowledge to deal with my query (27%)
5. It took a long time to deal with my query (26%)
David Davies of software provider Corizon, commented that the call centre is effectively the front door to the mobile service provider and is often the only contact the mobile user has with the operators brand. Poor customer service can have a dramatic effect on customer loyalty and churn.
Call centre agents should not be the ones to shoulder the blame, however. Call centres have invested heavily in many different technologies designed to improve the customer experience, but too often the result is that the call centre agent is getting lost in a maze of complex IT systems as he tries to access information from an array of sources. Call centres need to simplify the tools they give agents and help them to resolve this customer service time bomb.
2005-04-01
Em Foco – Produto