Customer Satisfaction Falls to 50%

Customer service satisfaction across the UK’s call centres has fallen from 62% to 50% over the last 18 months.

A study conducted by Bright UK has found that the number of consumers saying they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their experience had declined from 62% to 50% over 18 months.

The two million call centre customers surveyed were within every sector of the economy – including banking and insurance, telecoms, retail, energy and travel and leisure.

These findings have been supported by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), who reported in July that consumers are currently less satisfied with their customer experience than at any point since January 2011.

In an effort to improve standards and help safeguard the industry, a new customer service standard – called the Gold Standard – has now been launched.

Supported by the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA), the standard will help companies improve customer service, operational performance and staff engagement by benchmarking their service levels against best practice.

“Frustrations within the call centre industry run deep – from consumers being unhappy, to employees feeling aggravated and the executive seeing the call centre as a cost centre,” said Simon Thorpe, Programme Director for the Gold Standard. “Technology and training are available to help improve performance, but is not necessarily applied where it is needed most – simply because operations don’t have access to the information they need to make the right decision. It is through the Gold Standard that organisations can understand how they can improve their operational performance, employee engagement and ultimately their customer service.”

For more information about Bright UK and the Gold Standard, visit this website.