How Outsourced Call Centers Impact Customer Satisfaction

DO CALL CENTER AGENT АССENTS IMPACT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION? THE PROBLEM WITH FOREIGN CALL CENTERS ARE THE FOREIGN ACCENTS As companies consolidate and become larger, consumers often find themselves dealing with centralized call centers to resolve their problems. Consumer satisfaction in this arena is contingent upon several factors, one of the most important being whether the contact center is perceived to be offshore or located in the U.S. Why? Because not being able to understand who you are talking to is a big problem. EXPANSION OF CALL CENTERS WORLDWIDE THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 15,000 FIRMS WITH AN APPROXIMATE MARKET WORTH OF $50 BILLION =100 FIRMS/CALL CENTERS CONSUMERS AND CALL CENTERS ENGAGING WITH CONTACT CENTERS LIVE REPRESENTATIVES VS. IVR 100% Call centers are a multi-functional operation. The reason why consumers engage in contact centers may affect the experience they have with them. More and more call centers are turning to automated responses to deal with customer inquiries first. However, it appears that a majority of interaction is still live. 35% 81% 80% 32% 72% TO RECEIVE PRODUCT OR SERVICE A LIVE REPRESENTATIVE 59% BILLING INQUIRY 24% BOTH LIVE AND IVR 60% OBTAIN OTHER INFORMATION IVR AUTOMATED VOICE MACHINE CHECK STATUS OF ORDER FILE COMPLAINT 13% 40% OTHER 12% CONSUMERS ASKED TO "SELECT ALL THAT APPLY CONSUMERS ASKED TO "SELECT ALL THAT APPLY 20% 11% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% CALL CENTERS INSIDE VS. OUTSIDE THE U.S. HOW MUCH DOES THE ACCENT REALLY MATTER? OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION When it comes to call centers inside and outside of the United States the dilemma of accents becomes much more obvious. With so many call centers outsourced to countries like Brazil, China and especially India customer satisfaction with call center interaction has declined. In a recent survey by the CFI Group, overall customer satisfaction was measured on an index from 1 to 100. 100 being most satisfied. 100 90 80 "The accent makes it harder for people to understand what the non-native speaker is saying.they misattributed the difficulty of understanding the speech to the truthfulness of the statements." Boaz Keysar, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago 70 60 79 50 40 30 20 10 "Callers have a difficult time understanding offshore agents, which leads to an ineffective and inefficient process" - Reports the CFI Group" CALL CENTERS INSIDE THE U.S. CALL CENTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 58 Contact Center Satisfaction Index 1-100 EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE SPOKE TO MORE THAN ONE PERSON INQUIRY WAS RESOLVED INQUIRY WAS RESOLVED ON FIRST CALL 路 旅 你 32% 50% 85% 94% ASPECTS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EASE OF UNDERSTANDING OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH REPRESENTATIVE 100 When asked about their experience with the actual customer service agent, representatives from U.S. call centers received more favorable reviews than foreign call center representatives. 90 80 70 60 50 85 40 30 20 CALL CENTERS INSIDE THE U.S. 66 CALL CENTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 54 Contact Center Satisfaction Index 1-100 EFFECTIVENESS IN HANDLING YOUR ISSUE COURTEOUSNESS INTEREST IN HELPING RESOLVE INQUIRY 75 70 THE ISSUE OF TRUST ACCENTS AND DISTRUST 7.6 6.9 Another reason why accents affects customer service is the question of credibility. If I can not understand you, then I can not trust you. 6.8 6 An experiment conducted by the University of Chicago demonstrated this aspect. The question posed, do trivia statements sound less true when spoken by a non-native speaker? Furthermore, listeners were told in advance that all of the trivia questions were provided by the experimenter. This way, even listeners who were knowingly prejudice against non-native accents should not have been affected. 4 The results showed that the heavier the accent the less trust worthy the person became. 2 NATIVE ACCENT MILD ACCENT HEAVY ACCENT zendesk Sources: Psychologytoday.com, News.uchicago.edu, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2010, Contact Center Satisfaction Index, 2010. CFI Group. LOVE YOUR HELP DESK 21% DO CALL CENTER AGENT АССENTS IMPACT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION? THE PROBLEM WITH FOREIGN CALL CENTERS ARE THE FOREIGN ACCENTS As companies consolidate and become larger, consumers often find themselves dealing with centralized call centers to resolve their problems. Consumer satisfaction in this arena is contingent upon several factors, one of the most important being whether the contact center is perceived to be offshore or located in the U.S. Why? Because not being able to understand who you are talking to is a big problem. EXPANSION OF CALL CENTERS WORLDWIDE THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 15,000 FIRMS WITH AN APPROXIMATE MARKET WORTH OF $50 BILLION =100 FIRMS/CALL CENTERS CONSUMERS AND CALL CENTERS ENGAGING WITH CONTACT CENTERS LIVE REPRESENTATIVES VS. IVR 100% Call centers are a multi-functional operation. The reason why consumers engage in contact centers may affect the experience they have with them. More and more call centers are turning to automated responses to deal with customer inquiries first. However, it appears that a majority of interaction is still live. 35% 81% 80% 32% 72% TO RECEIVE PRODUCT OR SERVICE A LIVE REPRESENTATIVE 59% BILLING INQUIRY 24% BOTH LIVE AND IVR 60% OBTAIN OTHER INFORMATION IVR AUTOMATED VOICE MACHINE CHECK STATUS OF ORDER FILE COMPLAINT 13% 40% OTHER 12% CONSUMERS ASKED TO "SELECT ALL THAT APPLY CONSUMERS ASKED TO "SELECT ALL THAT APPLY 20% 11% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% CALL CENTERS INSIDE VS. OUTSIDE THE U.S. HOW MUCH DOES THE ACCENT REALLY MATTER? OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION When it comes to call centers inside and outside of the United States the dilemma of accents becomes much more obvious. With so many call centers outsourced to countries like Brazil, China and especially India customer satisfaction with call center interaction has declined. In a recent survey by the CFI Group, overall customer satisfaction was measured on an index from 1 to 100. 100 being most satisfied. 100 90 80 "The accent makes it harder for people to understand what the non-native speaker is saying.they misattributed the difficulty of understanding the speech to the truthfulness of the statements." Boaz Keysar, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago 70 60 79 50 40 30 20 10 "Callers have a difficult time understanding offshore agents, which leads to an ineffective and inefficient process" - Reports the CFI Group" CALL CENTERS INSIDE THE U.S. CALL CENTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 58 Contact Center Satisfaction Index 1-100 EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE SPOKE TO MORE THAN ONE PERSON INQUIRY WAS RESOLVED INQUIRY WAS RESOLVED ON FIRST CALL 路 旅 你 32% 50% 85% 94% ASPECTS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EASE OF UNDERSTANDING OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH REPRESENTATIVE 100 When asked about their experience with the actual customer service agent, representatives from U.S. call centers received more favorable reviews than foreign call center representatives. 90 80 70 60 50 85 40 30 20 CALL CENTERS INSIDE THE U.S. 66 CALL CENTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 54 Contact Center Satisfaction Index 1-100 EFFECTIVENESS IN HANDLING YOUR ISSUE COURTEOUSNESS INTEREST IN HELPING RESOLVE INQUIRY 75 70 THE ISSUE OF TRUST ACCENTS AND DISTRUST 7.6 6.9 Another reason why accents affects customer service is the question of credibility. If I can not understand you, then I can not trust you. 6.8 6 An experiment conducted by the University of Chicago demonstrated this aspect. The question posed, do trivia statements sound less true when spoken by a non-native speaker? Furthermore, listeners were told in advance that all of the trivia questions were provided by the experimenter. This way, even listeners who were knowingly prejudice against non-native accents should not have been affected. 4 The results showed that the heavier the accent the less trust worthy the person became. 2 NATIVE ACCENT MILD ACCENT HEAVY ACCENT zendesk Sources: Psychologytoday.com, News.uchicago.edu, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2010, Contact Center Satisfaction Index, 2010. CFI Group. LOVE YOUR HELP DESK 21% DO CALL CENTER AGENT АССENTS IMPACT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION? THE PROBLEM WITH FOREIGN CALL CENTERS ARE THE FOREIGN ACCENTS As companies consolidate and become larger, consumers often find themselves dealing with centralized call centers to resolve their problems. Consumer satisfaction in this arena is contingent upon several factors, one of the most important being whether the contact center is perceived to be offshore or located in the U.S. Why? Because not being able to understand who you are talking to is a big problem. EXPANSION OF CALL CENTERS WORLDWIDE THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 15,000 FIRMS WITH AN APPROXIMATE MARKET WORTH OF $50 BILLION =100 FIRMS/CALL CENTERS CONSUMERS AND CALL CENTERS ENGAGING WITH CONTACT CENTERS LIVE REPRESENTATIVES VS. IVR 100% Call centers are a multi-functional operation. The reason why consumers engage in contact centers may affect the experience they have with them. More and more call centers are turning to automated responses to deal with customer inquiries first. However, it appears that a majority of interaction is still live. 35% 81% 80% 32% 72% TO RECEIVE PRODUCT OR SERVICE A LIVE REPRESENTATIVE 59% BILLING INQUIRY 24% BOTH LIVE AND IVR 60% OBTAIN OTHER INFORMATION IVR AUTOMATED VOICE MACHINE CHECK STATUS OF ORDER FILE COMPLAINT 13% 40% OTHER 12% CONSUMERS ASKED TO "SELECT ALL THAT APPLY CONSUMERS ASKED TO "SELECT ALL THAT APPLY 20% 11% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% CALL CENTERS INSIDE VS. OUTSIDE THE U.S. HOW MUCH DOES THE ACCENT REALLY MATTER? OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION When it comes to call centers inside and outside of the United States the dilemma of accents becomes much more obvious. With so many call centers outsourced to countries like Brazil, China and especially India customer satisfaction with call center interaction has declined. In a recent survey by the CFI Group, overall customer satisfaction was measured on an index from 1 to 100. 100 being most satisfied. 100 90 80 "The accent makes it harder for people to understand what the non-native speaker is saying.they misattributed the difficulty of understanding the speech to the truthfulness of the statements." Boaz Keysar, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago 70 60 79 50 40 30 20 10 "Callers have a difficult time understanding offshore agents, which leads to an ineffective and inefficient process" - Reports the CFI Group" CALL CENTERS INSIDE THE U.S. CALL CENTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 58 Contact Center Satisfaction Index 1-100 EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE SPOKE TO MORE THAN ONE PERSON INQUIRY WAS RESOLVED INQUIRY WAS RESOLVED ON FIRST CALL 路 旅 你 32% 50% 85% 94% ASPECTS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EASE OF UNDERSTANDING OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH REPRESENTATIVE 100 When asked about their experience with the actual customer service agent, representatives from U.S. call centers received more favorable reviews than foreign call center representatives. 90 80 70 60 50 85 40 30 20 CALL CENTERS INSIDE THE U.S. 66 CALL CENTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. 54 Contact Center Satisfaction Index 1-100 EFFECTIVENESS IN HANDLING YOUR ISSUE COURTEOUSNESS INTEREST IN HELPING RESOLVE INQUIRY 75 70 THE ISSUE OF TRUST ACCENTS AND DISTRUST 7.6 6.9 Another reason why accents affects customer service is the question of credibility. If I can not understand you, then I can not trust you. 6.8 6 An experiment conducted by the University of Chicago demonstrated this aspect. The question posed, do trivia statements sound less true when spoken by a non-native speaker? Furthermore, listeners were told in advance that all of the trivia questions were provided by the experimenter. This way, even listeners who were knowingly prejudice against non-native accents should not have been affected. 4 The results showed that the heavier the accent the less trust worthy the person became. 2 NATIVE ACCENT MILD ACCENT HEAVY ACCENT zendesk Sources: Psychologytoday.com, News.uchicago.edu, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2010, Contact Center Satisfaction Index, 2010. CFI Group. LOVE YOUR HELP DESK 21%