CUSTOMER SERVICE DRIVES THE SWITCHERS

Research undertaken by independent research company Opinion Matters over 4-14 April 2014 with a sample size of 2,004 adults in Australia is worth considering for any business. We have to thank contact system provider NewVoiceMedia for bringing this research to our attention.

10 key questions were asked. The key responses revealed the following...

Switching providers

•   58% have switched to a different business as a result of poor customer service. Of this group, there was no gender difference and the reasons given for switching were, in order:

-        46%: Didn’t feel appreciated as a customer

-        38%: Staff unhelpful and rude

-        32%: transferred too many times

• Of those who switched, the average spend over a year for the product or service in question was $807; extrapolated to Australian consumers overall, this equates to $8 billion per year

Waiting to be answered 

• People hated being put on hold, but we were surprised how long people reported that they would wait:

-        19% said that they were prepared to wait up to 5 minutes and 52% would wait 5-10 minutes. 

-    Generally women were more prepared to hold than men, and surprisingly, those aged over 55 years were less patient than people in the 16-24 age group.

-        The most impatient were 15% of women and 23% of men, who indicated that they would hang up within 5 minutes of holding.

 Does Good Customer Service win Loyalty?

• About three quarters of all age groups reported that they would be more loyal, or actively recommend a company that provided good service to them.

Which Communication Channels were preferred?

• At 59%, calling was the most popular channel for communication with a business, ahead of email (32%) and social media (12% cited this as most effective). 
• However, there were generational differences with this; 26% of those aged 16-24 believed that social media to be the most effective means to resolve an issue, with Facebook being the favoured social network for interacting with business.
• Even so, when it came to obtaining the quickest response, the ratings changed again, with 73% opting for telephone over email (16%) and social media (3%).

We think that there is one other thing that businesses should consider with this research. Most people responding to this survey were probably thinking of their interactions with larger businesses. We might settle in for a 40 minute wait to speak to someone at a large organisation, but we won't wait anything like that for a small business. But what happens if your line is busy? 

Most of these large organisations have sophisticated queuing systems to encourage people to wait. If you have one line into your business and it's busy, what's your fall back? This is where a well briefed answering service could be of value. You need only overflow your calls during business hours to ensure that you need never miss a call. 

The research above looks mainly at switchers - the existing customers you stand to lose. What about the ones you never get as well? What percentage of your calls are new sales enquiries? If you divide the number of sales enquiries by your advertising and marketing budget, you can arrive at a very real cost of obtaining each sales enquiry - and this is before you even work out the average value of each sale that you land. Very sobering!

Well Done is an Australian owned and managed contact centre provider. To find out how to get a reception service us with us - anything from a simple message service to complex support - call Well Done on 1300 551 796 or make an enquiry on our website at http://www.welldone.net.au/contact.php We would be pleased to discuss your business requirements and quote.