UK Survey Announces Which Industries Have the Best and Worst Customer Service

New UK survey announces which industries have the best and worst customer service

Customer care is frequently at the forefront of a company’s mission to deliver outstanding service that makes customers feel appreciated and respected. While delivering outstanding service requires additional resources, effort, and money, doing it right would help you stand out from the competition, retain a good image with potential customers, and inspire current customers to buy from you again.

Customers deserve to know that their complaints are being heard and that they are being answered. This is why it is important to still engage directly with dissatisfied consumers. Awaken Intelligence conducted a survey to identify the most common contact centre customer complaints and from these results, we can determine that customer issues cannot be resolved as effectively by automated voice services as they can by a live person. 

With this information, it might interest you to know what industries have the best and worst customer service. You might have your own inklings based on experience, but let’s take a look at the data.

Industries with the best and worst customer service

750 UK contact centre customers were surveyed to find out what they feel about the customer service levels of various industries. Finance and Banking came out on top with 23% of respondents stating that they had received the best service from this industry. Consumer Goods came in at second with 20% ranking them as the best and the Entertainment & and Hospitality industry got 13% of respondents saying they were the best. 

When we consider the youngest and oldest demographics in the survey (i.e., 18-24 & 54+) independently, Consumer Goods becomes the industry with the best customer service.

As for the worst customer service, Utilities came in at first, with 18% of respondents placing it as worst. Travel came in at second with 14% saying it gave the worst service. Among 18-24-year-olds, the travel industry came in as the worst. 

As a call centre manager, business owner or executive, it probably interests you to stay abreast with this kind of information as it gives insight into whether improvement is necessary. However, the information from this survey is valuable as it might be too general for you to take decisive action necessary for better contact centre response. This is where call centre quality assurance software comes in.

How does call centre quality assurance software help?

Call centre quality assurance software aims to assist companies in evaluating the success of their customer service operations. Quality assurance (QA) is an important process for call centres and customer support departments to improve customer loyalty and employee participation.

When it comes to contacting contact centres, the public’s biggest annoyance is listening to chatbots or pre-recorded lines, demonstrating that we really enjoy speaking to a person even in today’s technologically advanced environment.

Customers have long been annoyed with long wait times and average call lengths, which have been a common phenomenon for decades. Call scripting software and speech analytics are great ways contact centres are handling the problem. 

Customer satisfaction is dependent on the first-call resolution, and the public is disappointed when their problems are not answered quickly. When asked if they had any other annoyances that weren’t on the list, they generally listed rude agents, being cut off, and having to repeat themselves. 

With call centre quality software, several of these speech patterns can be analysed automatically. This eliminates the burden of a manager having to sift through all the call data and process it into information that can form the basis for implementing improvements.

What means of communication do customers prefer?

Aside from discoveries concerning the quality of service, the survey also asked respondents what their preferred means of communication were. Email was voted the most preferred mode of communication for consumers, with the internet, text messages, and social media coming in second, third, and last, respectively.

This isn’t to say that all touch approaches aren’t useful. For example, Instant texting is preferred by 18-24-year-olds. Email is used for those aged 35 to 44, although those aged 45 and over also want a call.

What does the public feel about call centres amidst the pandemic?

COVID-19 has caused changes to the way companies and their customers interact. One of the major adjustments has been a complete shift to virtual communication, increasing the workload on contact centres.

Customers around the country are dissatisfied with the state of customer care in 2020, having to deal with long wait periods, uninformed staff, and ongoing conflicts. In the midst of a crisis, more households are giving in to poor customer service and leaving money on the table. 

According to the Awaken survey, customer support has gotten worse for 48% of respondents, 37% has been the same, and just 17% has improved.

Bottom line

Exceptional call centre quality assurance is central to providing good customer service, which translates to improved customer loyalty. Call centre quality assurance software is an important part of achieving this aim since it provides a better understanding of what keeps customers satisfied.