Forbes reported that poor customer service costs businesses more than $75 billion annually.
For many customers, the last few years have witnessed a business’s contact center becoming their only point of communication. It’s an uphill struggle. Year after year, little to no change in CSAT scores signals that brands are not improving customer loyalty.
This reality inspired WiserOwl to survey 1000 consumers to better understand their attitudes and preferences toward contact centers.
Here’s the problem. In our uncertain economy, contact centers must financially optimize their ability to mitigate demand while meeting service levels and delivering a positive customer experience. It’s a basic fact that contact centers require money, and every dollar spent takes from profitability and shareholder value.
So, what is it about consumers that is posing such great challenges?
How do today's customers view the role of contact centers?
Nearly 99% of customers think contact centers are important, and nearly half (47%) rate contact centers as extremely important to a business’s overall customer service. As important as you may have thought your contact center was in the past, it’s become increasingly essential in today’s landscape.
Less than half of consumers surveyed think customer service has improved.
Inbound customer communication volumes spiked during the pandemic, and this rapid increase was felt by consumers. Just 40% of respondents feel confident that businesses have improved service since the beginning of the pandemic.
The main problem: most consumers expect bad service
62% of survey respondents believe they will have a negative customer experience with a contact center in the next 12 months.
How do today's consumers view the role of contact centers?
With The American Customer Satisfaction Index reporting few standouts in customer service quality, it means companies are on a fairly level playing field relative to their peers.
It means a tremendous opportunity presents itself. That is, contact centers are missing a critical component to understanding how to move the customer satisfaction needle sustainably in the right direction.
WiserOwl believes the missing component is the ability to expose the gaps in contact center optimization. And the only productive way to reveal gaps is to fuse every contact center action to its precise dollar value in near real-time across all channels and teams. WiserOwl customers who have done this have achieved a 35% boost in productivity, decreased expenses by more than 30%, and achieved a 92% customer satisfaction rating.
To learn more, download the full report: 2023 Contact Center Consumer Attitudes & Preferences Survey today!
