Study rates effectiveness of industry’s call centers: One out of five callers gives up; PC companies worst offenders

When customers call, marketers aren’t doing a very good job addressing their concerns.
That’s the conclusion of a new call-center-satisfaction study, which found one-fifth of callers hang up with unresolved issues.
Callers to personal-computer companies were most unhappy, with a satisfaction score of 64 out of a possible 100. Insurance companies and cable and satellite TV companies came in with scores of 68, with cellphone companies close behind, at 69. Catalog call centers and banking companies had the best scores: 80 and 77, respectively.
“Hiring nice perky, nice people isn’t enough,” said Sheri Teodoru, partner and program director for CFI Group, which headed the study. “You don’t get brownie points for effort.”
Instead, call centers need to have staffers who are not only knowledgeable about the products or services but able to solve problems. They also need to be able to direct consumers to a place where their issues can be resolved, such as the company’s website or a retail location.
Teodoru noted that customers who thought an offshore call center was handling their problems rated their experience 26 points lower-and were twice as likely to leave the company they were calling-than those who thought the center was in the United States.
The study found that marketers in certain industries, such as cellphones, are trying to upsell unhappy consumers-that is, trying to offer new products to generate more revenue from callers. Almost a third, or 31%, of callers were given sales pitches, she said, and those customers were less satisfied than those who were not approached. “Upselling isn’t without its downside,” she said.
The study also found that, in the age of the Internet, the way calls are handled is one of the fastest-spreading pieces of news about a company. If it’s bungled, consumers are going to leave the company, Teodoru said.
“And they’re not just going to leave. … They’re going to tell their friends about it.”
The study was based on an e-mail survey of 900 people, who were asked about their experiences with call centers in the past 30 days.
Alice Z. Cuneo is a reporter for Advertising Age, a sister publication of RCR Wireless News. Both publications are owned by Crain Communications Inc.