Xerox Survey Reveals Call Center is Default Option for Almost Half of all Telecoms Consumers
More than a third of respondents said they would have preferred a
digital channel
NORWALK, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A new Xerox
report, ‘The
State of Customer Service 2015’ reveals that 47% of consumers who
called their telecoms supplier in the past year would have preferred
other means of assistance but fell back on the traditional call center
for a score of reasons.
When asked, 37% of respondents said other options weren’t convenient, or
an alternative wasn’t available (16%), or they didn’t know other options
existed, and 14% said other options failed to address their concern.
While 37% of respondents said they would have preferred a digital
channel – such as a virtual assistant or webchat – 10% said their
preference would have been a ‘bricks and mortar’ retail outlet.
The survey provides insight from the frontlines of customer care,
suggesting that more research and development is needed for customer
care before it works, said Christine Landry, communications industry
leader, Xerox. She said the traditional call center is still the first
choice of almost half of callers (49%) who want to lodge a complaint
with their telecoms provider.
In the survey, respondents named more than 188 separate brands who
provide telephony, mobile and Internet service.
“Often perceived as the ‘silver bullet’ of customer care, many telecoms
operators haven’t quite got the hang of deploying digital support in a
cost effective and convenient way,” said Landry. “And we suspect that
this is happening beyond telecoms customers.”
One in five telecoms consumers still prefer brick and mortar retail
outlets for brand interaction with nearly a third (32%) of sign-up
activity still being performed in store.
The Xerox survey, which contacted 6,000 consumers across the media,
telecoms, and technology sectors in the United States, United Kingdom,
Germany, France and the Netherlands, about their attitudes to customer
care, found that telecoms customers were the most dissatisfied of all
(26% were highly dissatisfied compared to 24% for media brands and 15%
for technology brands).
Furthermore, dissatisfaction with telecoms brands was found to increase
with the number of brand interactions, such as inquiries and complaints.
“While customer interactions present an opportunity to nurture high
satisfaction, telecoms operators are simply frustrating customers with
prolonged customer care inquiries through channels they would often
ideally prefer not to use,” said Landry. “The only way to reduce
reliance on traditional, more expensive channels is for telecoms
operators and other consumer segments to provide improved digital
channels, like webchat.”
Other trends revealed by the study, the latest in a series of annual
Xerox studies on the telecoms sector, include:
-
More demanding customers: Consumers continue to be increasingly
hard to please. In the United States and United Kingdom, high
satisfaction levels have fallen year on year, while low satisfaction
level have risen each year; levels of high satisfaction fell three
percentage points between 2013 and 2015, from 39% to 36%. In the same
timeframe, high dissatisfaction among telecoms customers rose by nine
percentage points from 20% to 29%. -
Sharp fall in ‘passive’ customers: Tracking Net Promoter Score
(NPS)1, in the United States and United Kingdom shows
‘passive’ customers have fallen sharply over the last three years
(from 64% to 33%), while detractors have increased year on year (from
24% to 34%). -
To switch or not to switch: Despite this dissatisfaction,
telecoms operators still enjoy a largely loyal, if inert, customer
base, with 64% saying they are unlikely to switch in the next 12
months. Switch risk is dependent on age however. Younger generations
are more likely to be on the lookout for greener pastures. Over one in
four of those aged under 30 expect to switch telecoms operator over
the next 12 months, while only 10% of those aged over 70 expect to.
About Xerox
Xerox is helping change the way the world works. By applying our
expertise in imaging, business process, analytics, automation and
user-centric insights, we engineer the flow of work to provide greater
productivity, efficiency and personalization. We conduct business in 180
countries, and our more than 130,000 employees create meaningful
innovations and provide business
process services, printing
equipment, software
and solutions that make a real difference for our clients – and their
customers. Learn more at www.xerox.com.
About the Study:
The State of Customer Service 2015 study was conducted in June 2015 on
behalf of Xerox and surveyed 6,000 consumers in the United States
(2,000), the U.K. (1,000), Germany (1,000), France (1,000) and the
Netherlands (1,000).
The Xerox report on the study can be downloaded here: https://www.xerox.com/en-us/services/customer-care/customer-service-2015
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Xerox® and Xerox and Design® are trademarks of
Xerox in the United States and/or other countries.
Net Promoter, NPS, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered
service marks, and Net Promoter Score and Net Promoter System are
service marks, of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc. and Fred
Reichheld.
1 Net Promoter Score® (NPS) is a key indicator of
business performance for mature, competitive industries. It identifies
the level of customer advocates (promoters), critics (detractors) and
those satisfied but unenthusiastic (passives) offering an indication of
customer loyalty.
Contacts
Xerox
Kevin Lightfoot, +1-214-841-8191
kevin.lightfoot@xerox.com
or
Xerox
Europe
Robert Corbishley, +44 (0) 1895 843239
robert.corbishley@xerox.com
