ContactBabel Research Finds Complaints About US Contact Centers Have Increased by 40% Since Economic Downturn Began
Research published today by ContactBabel, the contact center industry analysts, reveals that the past 2 years have seen a 40% increase in the number of complaints made about the failures and shortcomings of US contact centers. In real terms, this means a jump from almost 550m negative calls in 2008 to over 770m in 2010.
Durham, United Kingdom, January 19, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Generally, the economic downturn has driven more consumers to display negativity, stress and intolerance of mistakes, as well as there being general under-investment by companies, which has worsened the problems with the business processes and contact center systems that cause many of these complaints. Negative feelings, particularly towards financial services institutions, have created many very unhappy customers who are now far more prone to complain than had previously been the case.
Figure 1: Proportion of calls received that are complaints about the contact center, by vertical market
Telecoms: 4.2%
Finance: 2.1%
Outsourcing: 2.0%
Services: 1.8%
Public Sector: 1.3%
Medical: 1.3%
Retail & Distribution: 1.1%
IT: 1.1%
Insurance: 0.6%
Utilities: 0.5%
Transport & Travel: 0.1%
Average: 1.7%
"The US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide (4th edition - 2011)", is a major study of over 200 US contact center operations, looking at all areas of contact center performance, investment, technology, HR and strategy. It is available entirely free of charge from www.contactbabel.com.
The report's author, Steve Morrell, commented:
"While these figures look worrying, we should note that on average 4 out of 5 complaints received by a contact center are not about how the staff handle calls, but rather about a failure of processes elsewhere in the organization. However, it's the contact center that has to deal with the dirty work, and further failures within the complaints and resolutions procedure (or lack of it) can see customers calling into the contact center again and again, becoming more irate each time, despite the real problem lying elsewhere.
"There is a real risk, especially within large contact centers and in those that operate offshore as well as in the US, that a single agent does not have the capability or responsibility to deal with the customer’s issue. It may be that various internal departments (e.g. finance, billing, provisioning and technical support), need to work together to resolve the issue, but in many businesses, getting someone to take responsibility for sorting out the problem is a long and complex process in itself.
"This widespread and short-sighted failure of businesses to see the contact center as part of a larger organic whole is the main reason that many people dislike using contact centers: too often, agents are simply not given the tools they need to solve the customer's problem."
About ContactBabel and "The US Contact Center Decision-Maker's Guide (4th edition - 2011)"
The "US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide (4th edition - 2011)" is the major annual report studying the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of over 200 US contact center operations across all sectors and size bands. The result is the 4th edition of the largest and most comprehensive study of all aspects of the US contact center industry.
The full report, containing over 260 pages and 140 graphs and tables is available free of charge from the ContactBabel website (www.contactbabel.com/united-states.cfm).
Contact details:
Steve Morrell (Principal Analyst)
smorrell@contactbabel.com
+44 (0)1740 629835
###
Figure 1: Proportion of calls received that are complaints about the contact center, by vertical market
Telecoms: 4.2%
Finance: 2.1%
Outsourcing: 2.0%
Services: 1.8%
Public Sector: 1.3%
Medical: 1.3%
Retail & Distribution: 1.1%
IT: 1.1%
Insurance: 0.6%
Utilities: 0.5%
Transport & Travel: 0.1%
Average: 1.7%
"The US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide (4th edition - 2011)", is a major study of over 200 US contact center operations, looking at all areas of contact center performance, investment, technology, HR and strategy. It is available entirely free of charge from www.contactbabel.com.
The report's author, Steve Morrell, commented:
"While these figures look worrying, we should note that on average 4 out of 5 complaints received by a contact center are not about how the staff handle calls, but rather about a failure of processes elsewhere in the organization. However, it's the contact center that has to deal with the dirty work, and further failures within the complaints and resolutions procedure (or lack of it) can see customers calling into the contact center again and again, becoming more irate each time, despite the real problem lying elsewhere.
"There is a real risk, especially within large contact centers and in those that operate offshore as well as in the US, that a single agent does not have the capability or responsibility to deal with the customer’s issue. It may be that various internal departments (e.g. finance, billing, provisioning and technical support), need to work together to resolve the issue, but in many businesses, getting someone to take responsibility for sorting out the problem is a long and complex process in itself.
"This widespread and short-sighted failure of businesses to see the contact center as part of a larger organic whole is the main reason that many people dislike using contact centers: too often, agents are simply not given the tools they need to solve the customer's problem."
About ContactBabel and "The US Contact Center Decision-Maker's Guide (4th edition - 2011)"
The "US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide (4th edition - 2011)" is the major annual report studying the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of over 200 US contact center operations across all sectors and size bands. The result is the 4th edition of the largest and most comprehensive study of all aspects of the US contact center industry.
The full report, containing over 260 pages and 140 graphs and tables is available free of charge from the ContactBabel website (www.contactbabel.com/united-states.cfm).
Contact details:
Steve Morrell (Principal Analyst)
smorrell@contactbabel.com
+44 (0)1740 629835
###
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ContactBabel
Steve Morrell
+44 (0)1740 629835
www.contactbabel.com
Steve Morrell
+44 (0)1740 629835
www.contactbabel.com
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