New report shows 68% of consumers hang up if they have trouble hearing an agent

Last week I was reading my industry news emails and came across a bulletin from Contact Center World, titled "Call Center Frustrations May Cause Consumers to Shop Elsewhere".  While I automatically thought - "well, yeah!" I still clicked through to see what proof this article contained, and am happy I did.

The first line catches the readers eye - 68% of consumers hang up if they have trouble hearing an agent.  This includes a bad connection, poor voice quality, faulty speech recognition software, an agent mumbling on the phone or having an accent that is thick and difficult to understand.

The report, as pointed out in the Contact Center World article, is based on a survey of 3,925 consumers in the United States, U.K, Germany and France, and makes a good point about the investment a call center needs to make in their services.

Call centers are in business to serve people.  So it astounds me when some companies don't properly invest their time and resources in technology and people that work for them.

When you look to hire an outsourced call center, there are many things to consider to ensure proper fit.  However at the forefront of your questions should be an inquiry into the technology used, and people hired to work on your project.  Does the technology meet industry standards?  Are agents accent-neutral and easy to understand?

Customer call you for help, so don't leave them unsatisfied!  An inbound call center is your opportunity to really impress your customer base with exceptional customer service and quality - so take it!

Comments

[Call Center Manager]

As a call center manager, you would think that most call centers would figure this out. They would rather blame the agents than their sub-par communication system.

[inbound call center]

This is true on all occasions for phone customer service. What's surprising is the 68% figure that these companies should be taking seriously.

[BPO Services India]

ya accept it happen on the customer service should fig out all those

[Order taking call center]

Great insightful article. Think of what businesses will miss if the call is not clear. What if the customer is placing an order? Business can suffer great loss if callers immediately hang up.

That's why a good order taking call center is essential to this. Go find a provider with the latest technology infrastructure and with the right pricing.

[Customer Call Center]

that' the big problem in all call center companies!!

[Call Center Services India.]

"68% of consumers hang up if they have trouble hearing an agent" this is true. To avoid this always ensure that your are using proper system and calling equipments.

[Staff & Knowledge Process Outsourcing]

This is extremely important to be courteous and personable especially if you are working for an outbound call center and calling customers directly. Always ask if it's a good time for them to speak, and always thank them for their time. Your customers value their time, and they should know that your company does too.

[Matthew Egan]

Call quality is so important. The last thing any person wants to do is take time out of there day to call in to a call center. Making the experience personal, enjoyable, helps build a client loyalty toward the company. Utilizing the best technology helps this experience on both ends.

[Lawrence Anderson]

Good communication is key as far as what I've learned of lead generation via telemarketing (and I'm still learning in fact). I do like how you added a few more causes of bad communication though (like lousy equipment).