Your company recently may have implemented a multimillion-dollar CRM system, but if customers call with questions and get transferred more than once, the likelihood of them purchasing from you again drops sharply. So much for that multimillion-dollar investment!
That’s just one of the findings in a new study by Portland Research Group that looked at the satisfaction and loyalty of customers who contacted businesses throughout 2003. The Portland, Maine-based firm compiled the study based on 841 responses from customers who had contacted companies in one of five categories – telecommunication/ISP, consumer goods/retail, consumer services/medical, travel/lodging/food and other. Here are some of its key findings:
The questions or problems of 46% of respondents were resolved during the first contact, but the typical contactor had to call 2.3 times before the question or problem was resolved. Future purchase intent dropped from 76% to 55% with the second contact.
On average callers were transferred 1.5 times before reaching someone who could assist them. There was little impact on satisfaction or loyalty when a caller was transferred a single time. There was a significant drop in future purchase intent when a contactor was transferred a second time, however. Future purchase intent dropped from 64% to 48% when a caller was transferred twice. Only one in three (35%) callers were not transferred.
Overall, one out of four (24%) people who called a company for assistance with a question or problem were not satisfied with the follow through on the actions promised by the call center agent they spoke with.
Contactors who were very or somewhat satisfied with the response they received had an associated loyalty of 78%. Loyalty drops by at least 55 percentage points when contactors were less than satisfied with the response they received.
For more information or to obtain a copy of the study, visit www.portlandresearch.com