A new study that surveyed over 1,500 respondents across Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines reveals some serious implications for businesses that lag behind in delivering customer service experience and engagement.
Conducted by customer experience consulting group Fifth Quadrant in conjunction with LogMeIn, the report, Optimizing Customer Experience in India and South East Asia: Delivering to the Needs of the Connected, Multi-channel Consumer, reveals that when discussing customer experience, nearly eight out of every 10 study respondents indicated they would stop doing business with a company after a bad experience, with 72% indicating they would advise family and friends to do the same.
Overall, across the region a majority of respondents felt moderately satisfied with their customer support experiences (44%), but there is definitely room for improvement as only 25% indicated a high rate of satisfaction.
Short Resolution Time is Key to Customer Satisfaction
Interestingly, according to 37% or participants, the key driver of satisfaction ultimately lies in the business’ ability to connect the customer to a representative who can resolve the query. Many respondents across the region (43%) said that they are most frustrated with the time taken to reach a representative and resolution time with long hold times and automated service menus continuing to irritate customers who are keen to get fast resolutions to their problems.
A majority of respondents indicated that they expected a response within 10 minutes if they had made the query by phone call (73%) and live chat (71%). However, the survey also revealed that consumers are increasingly sacrificing customer satisfaction for speed and ease of access noting that while traditional channels offer the highest level of customer satisfaction, 69% of respondents still prefer online and mobile channels.
Customers Want Multiple Channels for Customer Support
Speed of resolution wasn’t the only driver for a positive customer experience -- the availability of multi-channel engagement was also key. The number of consumers turning to mobile and online channels for customer support have increased over the past year (31% online, 29% mobile), with close to half (48%) saying they used the web to look for information almost always before contacting customer service.
However, the study found that while digital channels require 8.3 interactions by the consumer for each issue resolution on average, traditional channels only required 2.8 interactions per query. This suggests that current digital channels are not as efficient as traditional channels for query resolution. Organizations need to ensure they have integrated systems in place to track the customer’s history across channels in order to deliver a seamless experience.
“In this age of connectivity, the competition is just a few clicks away,” said Dan Cran, Director, APAC, LogMeIn. “Delivering a positive customer experience both pre and post-sale is no longer a lofty goal, but a necessity for success. As available support channels continue to increase, it is important for customer service departments to be equipped with the tools to help meet the constant demand for better and faster resolutions. Those that constantly deliver positive and customized experiences will create loyal customers and pull ahead of the competition.”
“Contact centers can tap on technology to understand cross-channel behavior, reduce response times and link customers’ digital interactions with their profiles and case records. By optimizing online support and guiding customers to the right channel for their issues, businesses will find that they are better able to reduce customer effort, improve resolution rates and customer satisfaction,” says Steve Nuttall, Research Director, Fifth Quadrant.