The collective sigh from being held to customer service has resounded around the world — especially in Australia. Research from ServiceNow has revealed that Australians have wasted 89.5 million hours on hold trying to resolve complaints over the past 18 months. That’s an average of seven hours per person.
The seven-hour experience is a wave of emotions — from tolerance while listening to music to joy when you finally get to an operator, to the frustration that you have to explain your situation later, but are only restrained. In a world with technology in our hands, there needs to be an easier way.
Room for improvement
However, many Australians believe the situation is getting worse. More than half (53%) of survey respondents said the average time they spent on hold increased during the pandemic. A third said it rose “a lot.”
Although the use of consumer technology has evolved, businesses have not kept up. They must address the “great hold” by balancing a seamless shopping experience with effective complaint management.
Many businesses admit that they can do better. According to research, 40% of chief customer care officers know the importance of focusing on creating positive customer experiences. And a third of chief operating officers want to better integrate risk controls and compliance into their customer service processes.
The telecommunications and government industries performed the hardest when it came to resolving the issues, according to the survey. Common failure lies in incompetence and repetition. Australians cited long response times, having to repeat their issue to many people, hours held trying to solve a problem, and passing around internal departments as their biggest irritation.
High expectations
Consumers in Australia now expect more from organizations than ever before. More than a third (36%) of survey respondents said their expectations increased during the pandemic. They have limited patience to deal with shortcomings. They want fast, reliable service — every time.
That’s right. 2022 and. The pandemic has accelerated the evolution of digitization, specifically around e-commerce and how consumers interact with big business. If we can use QR codes to buy items and check in at places, use apps to order delivery of everything from groceries to medicine, and store critical information of vaccines on our phones, why can’t we solve an issue by pressing a button?
Reimagining the customer experience
Going forward, the customer experience will be critical to business success, requiring organizations to streamline their complaint resolution processes for a friction-free, fast, and fail-free approach.
The waiting days on hold are counted. Customers want to feel seen, heard, and valued, and take their issues seriously. Businesses need to act quickly to fix the problem.
As consumers demand convenience, efficiency, and ease when problems are resolved, organizations will need to focus on issue management processes. A leading complaint resolution system will be as important as the overall shopping experience, specifically in retaining customers and driving repeat business.
In a hyper-competitive marketplace, organizations will need to find ways to lose customer anticipation. According to Deloitte Digital’s 2021 Global Contact Center Survey, the companies that lead in customer service after the pandemic are the ones accelerating their digital transformation efforts and re-imagining their mix of service channels.
Striving for customer service greatness should be a major strategic focus for every business. Companies need to identify barriers to a best -practice customer dispute resolution process and then reorganize accordingly.
Priority should be on automation-streamlining processes and eliminating bottlenecks by creating a self-service platform that reduces or eliminates hold times, diverts email calls or instant chat, or use autofill forms to filter issues and direct customers to the most appropriate place to solve their problem.
Learn how Customer Service Management can help.
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