Feb. 22, 2008 at 2:32pm

Call centers and customer satisfaction

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Measurement, Planning and Strategy
Comments (1)

I was on the phone recently with a hospital CEO who was fuming about his IT help desk. “So call wait times are down, but is anyone tracking to see if they are solving problems?”

The CEO’s question came to mind today while I waited on hold for more than 20 minutes after calling Expedia. I ended the call smiling. A polite customer service representative kept me on hold as she called the airline I was booked on to assure I had a seat on an earlier flight to avoid a five-hour layover. She ended the call with an apology for my wait – and earned my gratitude.

Calling Expedia isn’t always a happy time. The initial wait is usually long. No matter how pleasant the voice, the more often I hear “we are experiencing higher than expected call volumes” the less I buy it.

Digging into the numbers can yield surprises. We’ve found that customers and call centers may start the clock at different points when timing call waits. Call centers sometimes consider issues resolved when the caller is transferred. And faithfully following a script doesn’t guarantee a cordial tone.

It’s important to know what it takes to satisfy your customer. J.D. Power and Associates uses the same criteria for call centers across industries:

• Courtesy
• Knowledge
• Concern for the customer
• Usefulness of the information provided
• Convenience of operating hours
• Ease of reaching a representative
• Timely resolution

You get what you measure they say. But are we measuring what matters?

Comments (1)

Excellent topic; similar criteria can be used to evaluate automated services (robots providing human services).

Are your robots providing good service?
(Originally posted 2/22/2008 at 5:28 pm)
1 | Left by Jamie Chase | Aug. 27, 2008 at 1:21pm