News

Customer service in Australia ‘in serious decline’

The quality of customer service in Australia has dropped considerably over the last five years, according to a survey by AMR for industry body International Customer Service Professionals.

The announcement:

Melbourne, October 7, 2011: Customer service levels in Australia are in serious decline, with nearly two thirds of Australians believing they are far worse than they were five years ago, according to a new research conducted for the International Customer Service Professionals (ICSP), the official hosts of International Customer Service Week in Australia & New Zealand.

The study, undertaken by Australian research consultancy AMR and customer experience experts Feedback ASAP, surveyed Australians about their perceptions and experiences of customer service1. Results showed 58.5 per cent of respondents felt customer service has declined in the last 5 years, with only 17.4 per cent saying it has improved.

Complaints from consumers predominantly focused on poor staff attitudes, problems with overseas call centres, and a lack of personal touch and product knowledge, said AMR Melbourne General Manager, Mary Forgie.

“The research showed that poor staff attitudes are a stand-out factor in consumer dissatisfaction,” she explained. “In particular, people found attitudes from young workers in retail particularly wanting.”

She said high dissatisfaction with overseas call centres also contributed to the overall result, with many consumers stating that the lack of personalised service and low product knowledge was a serious issue.

Phil Prosser, CEO of customer service management firm, Feedback ASAP, said while the result related to overseas call centres was not surprising, “what is surprising is that many companies continue to use them in the same way despite the resentment and frustration they appear to create,” he said.

“Many businesses that use this tool are failing to use it well, and continue to simply focus on the cost saving and ignore the need to give customers good service. There will always be ome
customers who are not happy about having to go through a foreign call centre, but there are companies who have learned to do it well, and experience the bottom line benefit and increased customer satisfaction.”

Forgie said among the 17.4 per cent of respondents who believed customer service had improved during the past five years, the outlook was positive. “The Australians that have seen an improvement in service levels in recent years believe the current economic environment is creating increased competition among businesses, encouraging better service training skills among staff, and an improved awareness of the importance of customer service,” she explained.

“These responses highlight the fact that there are a number of businesses who do take customers seriously, and their customers notice the difference,” said Ms Forgie.

Prosser said given the results, it would be interesting to see how well Australian businesses can move to capture the loyalty of an increasingly-dissatisfied market. “Now more than ever businesses need to retain every customer by supporting their frontline teams and making service a priority,” he said. “The reality is, the cost of getting your service wrong is the biggest handicap to growth. What’s more, with consumers now using social media as a tool to vent customer service dissatisfaction, Australian business can no longer afford to ignore this increasingly serious issue.”

ICSP CEO, Tricia Olsen concurred, adding: “The results clearly show that customers in Australia currently want more from business in regard to customer service, and this expectation is, on the whole, not being met. There is a clear desire and pressure from consumers for their providers to be both price competitive, and to deliver good customer service.”

Source: AMR

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