Switch Hack

The 2008 Datacraft/Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report made depressing reading.

I don’t know what the most disappointing aspect of this survey was, the seemingly lack of importance when it came to the choice of communication channels available or the fact that the increasing use of self-service in call centres is supposed to be a good thing? Apparently “The choice of medium (or channel) was ranked among the lowest methods for customer service improvement” with “less than 2% of participants selecting this option in their top three choices for impact on customer satisfaction.”

We live in a multi-channel world; consumers expect to be able to communicate via the channel most convenient for them, whether this be Email, Phone or Internet. Failure to acknowledge this shows a major lack of forward thinking on behalf of contact centres. Furthermore, self service may be a cheaper alternative in these cost sensitive times, however in the long term it’s far more likely to damage the brand than create any long lasting goodwill.

Indeed, from personal experience there’s nothing more frustrating than going through a never-ending list of automated options when all you want to do is speak to a human person!

In my opinion a well trained and skilled agent is far more valuable to the brand, providing important customer feedback to the brand and using their skills and experience to provide a unique and tailored customer service experience. Undoubtedly first time resolution, waiting times and communication skills are all important components in contact centres, however the ranking in importance of one over the other does nothing to encourage a holistic view of good customer service. It’s all well and good asking call centre managers what the most important factors are in customer service improvement, but when are we going to ask the people that matter – the consumer?”

Tags: benchmarking report, centre, communication, contact, contact centre, contact centres, customer feedback, customer service, data, datacraft, dimension, global, human, improvement, self-service, skills, trained, waiting times

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am and is filed under Listening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.