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Consumers Are Dumping Companies with Poor Customer Service, Survey Finds

According to a new survey, 2015 Customer Service Report, from cloud contact center solutions provider Corvisa, consumers are abandoning businesses because they’re fed up with the poor quality of customer service.

In the third annual Customer Service Report of more than 1,200 U.S. consumers, almost half (48 percent) of those surveyed said that they’ve stopped doing business with a company due to poor customer experiences.

The survey also found that almost a quarter of millennials would stop doing business with a company after just one instance of poor customer service.

People on the “front lines” of businesses are personally feeling consumer pain. Eighteen percent of respondents said that they’ve yelled at a customer service agent, while 40 percent said that they’ve hung up the phone out of frustration.

Specifically, consumers cited three examples of poor customer service:

• Long hold times – Even in this Information Age, almost half (41 percent) of those surveyed still prefer to use the phone to communicate with customer service. That number becomes a majority (56 percent) when they’re frustrated. More than half of all respondents (57 percent) said that businesses should reduce their hold times.
• Lack of personal touch – Almost all (99 percent) of consumers think that customer service agents sound too scripted at times. A quarter of those surveyed said that training customer service agents to sound more human should be a top priority.
•  Lack of proactivity – Eighty percent of consumers said that they would be impressed if a company proactively engaged with them, as opposed to waiting for a question or complaint.

 Corvisa CEO Matt Lautz commenting on the last item stated, "If customers aren't calling in, it doesn't mean they wouldn't benefit from some proactive outreach that could help them down the line," said "Proactive care is looking at the behavior of your customers, how they are using your product, how they are interacting with you and calling them when you see something could be better or before they notice there's a problem."

The survey did uncover some opportunities for businesses as well. More than three quarters (77 percent) of respondents said that they’re open to receiving text messages from companies, especially if those messages include fraud alerts. They also appreciate reminders for reservations, appointments, upcoming payments due, and travel status. Almost half (49 percent) want to be notified of discounts or special promotions.

Unfortunately, gleaning specific consumer information will continue to remain a challenge. Seventy-eight percent of consumers are reluctant to provide personal data to businesses. That’s because of concerns over fraud in the wake of constant news about major corporations experiencing data breaches.

Edited by Peter Bernstein