A survey of American consumers to determine their attitudes toward and perceptions of today’s customer service and the impact of the down economy sponsored by Jacada (News - Alert) notes that serious concerns are on the rise while service and satisfaction have dropped. The red button areas are Web self-service and billing. Observers say failure to address these issues could cost companies business at a time when every customer is golden.

 

The research, conducted in April 2009 by Wakefield, revealed that 69 percent of Americans are less willing to put up with poor customer service than they were a year ago while 43 percent feel that customer service has gotten worse since the economic downturn.

 

As a result, 53 percent say that they have left a company due to a bad experience with customer service and 43 percent of consumers said they have postponed dealing with a problem or issue because they didn’t feel like dealing with customer service.

 

While many companies have invested in Web self-support solutions with more attention being paid to online service options, survey findings show that the vast majority of consumers prefer phone-based customer service. The results show that experiences with customer service Web sites often lead to frustration and annoyance.

 

The vast majority or 79 percent of those who have used a company’s self-service Web site to resolve a problem use at least one negative term - “annoyed,” “frustrated,” or “confused,” for example - to describe the experience. Some 62 percent report feeling frustrated when having to resolve an urgent or serious issue using a company’s site while 54 percent say they get annoyed. Barely one-third or 32 percent feel Web self-service an efficient way to get answers; 71 percent say they would have preferred to talk directly to a live person.

 

Not surprisingly for urgent or serious issues, 89 percent prefer to work with a live agent over the phone rather than using company Web site self-help functions. 40 percent give up “some” or “all of the time” when using an online customer service center because it wasn’t resolving their problem/ answering their question.  By contrast, far fewer Americans or 29 percent have done the same when dealing with an agent.

 

The survey found that there has been an increase in issues that require Americans to contact customer service:

 

*          Compared to a year ago, nearly one-quarter i.e. 24 percent of Americans have seen an increase in the number of urgent or serious issues that require them to contact customer service

 

*          More than half or 51 percent have at least one urgent or serious customer service issue per month

 

*          The number one reason Americans contact customer service is for a billing mistake

Roughly a quarter or 26 percent cited a billing mistake or incorrect charge. Nearly as many or 22 percent said that a bill was higher than expected. Nearly one in five or 17 percent said cancelling services or accounts.

 

Observers say that many of these issues can be resolved and calls avoided by making sites more customer-intuitive and by correcting processes that lead to errors and urgent matters.