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Customer Satisfaction Levels in U.S. Soar, Convergys Customer Scorecard Reveals

By Linda Dobel
TMCnet Contributor

Have you noticed something about the customer service reps you’ve encountered lately? Weren’t they a bit nicer, a tad more helpful, more knowledgeable, self-confident? If you’ve made these observations, it’s not because your imagination is working overtime.

Research from customer management solutions provider Convergys (News - Alert) Corporation confirms that we Americans are indeed pretty darn happy with a service we are getting. In an announcement to the press today, Convergys discussed some of the findings from its 2011 Convergys U.S. Customer Scorecard Research. It revealed that of those it surveyed, “nine out of 10 say customer service improved or stayed the same in 2011” and “seven out of 10 were ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ satisfied with their latest service experience.”  Only five percent of respondents were not at all satisfied with their latest service experience. That’s pretty impressive.

“Efforts by service organizations to deliver an outstanding experience are paying solid dividends in higher customer satisfaction,” said Christine Timmins Barry, senior vice president of global operations for Convergys’ customer management business. “Credit for this strong approval rating goes to companies that maintain a commitment to excellent customer service, and to the talented and dedicated people who work on the front lines with customers every day.”

Convergys says the release of these positive findings today coincides with Customer Service Week, which is observed worldwide this week.

So who were the people who reported such high satisfaction levels? Convergys reported that respondents were people, 18 and 74 years old,  almost equally divided between males and females, who had at least two experiences within the prior six months as a customer of a business operating in the field of : “banking, credit cards, healthcare insurance, Internet service provider, mobile phone, retail, satellite/cable, technology and telephone.” The survey included responses from 3,514 people who fit these criteria.

A second artery of the 2011 Convergys U.S. Customer Scorecard Research looked at the other side of the customer service equation: the people who are providing the service in one of the nine industries listed in the customer segment of the survey. In this segment of the survey, Convergys found that 40 percent of employees who provide service who responded to the survey reported that in the last six months the amount of training they received to improve the customer experience increased, while half said the company they work for did not yield to economic pressure to cut training for this purpose. This is noteworthy as companies have been reporting cuts in so many other areas.  It also suggests a correlation can be drawn between the provision of employee training and the satisfaction levels of employees.

“In our survey, service employees showed a remarkable consistency in singling out and identifying the attributes that customers want most from the service experience,” said Barry. “At the same time, it is notable that nearly two out of five say they need more training in order to provide excellent service. In a market environment where service is now the single most important competitive differentiator, companies should heed this warning sign, and step up to employee demands for more training.”

The company said it will be releasing more results from this survey in the coming weeks.

In other news, TMCnet reported last week,  “Convergys is looking to hire 2000 employees over the next 60 days in the United States.”