A new Capgemini study has surveyed the opinions of consumers on customer services. More than 9,000 individuals gave feedback to Capgemini – and confirmed many of the long-held assumptions about the art of customer service: it matters quite a lot.
A 65% majority of customers said they would recommend a service to friends or family, on the basis of good customer service, and 55% said they would become a repeat customer. On the other hand, 40% said they would discourage others from using a brand because of a poor customer service experience, and 29% would reduce their spending on the product or service in question.
Source: Capgemini Research Institute, Customer service transformation survey
Customer service obviously offers up huge opportunities, or carries huge risks, in this case – and Capgemini suggests it is in the best interest of companies to act fast. Especially as, with the stakes set out so starkly, consumers are much less inclined toward the positive side of things at present. Only 45% of customers are satisfied with the service provided by all service providers – with the worst performing sectors being in telecom (35%), utilities (33%) and government agencies (25%).
When asked what the most important factors of customer services were, 61% said effective and speedy issue resolution was top of the list, but only 45% received this often or always. Similarly, prompt responses and shorter wait times were important to 56%, but only 40% said they experienced them.
Source: Capgemini Research Institute, Customer service transformation survey
This gaps are major opportunities for companies to deploy a quick fix, and for artificial intelligence to finally demonstrate its value in a business environment. While AI vendors still lack a killer app, or a clearly defined use, ‘chat bots’ are the sector’s bread and butter, and can be extremely effective in at least improving the speed of work. Capgemini asked 861 executives from organisations exploring or implementing Gen AI for customer service activities – and found that 25% had already seen a reduction in handling times, while 62% expected to see this soon.
This had also seen human employees see their workload drop – offering companies a choice on how to proceed. While 24% said they had found space to reduce operating costs, 31% said they’d seen agent productivity increase, as rather than reducing headcount, they had re-deployed staff to more valuable activities.
Illustrating the potential at play, the researchers stated, “As well as raising brand profile and promoting business growth by securing customer loyalty and referrals, customer service can bring additional revenue from premium service offerings. For example, organizations can charge higher rates for priority support, personalised assistance, and exclusive access to certain features or representatives. Our research shows that three in five consumers are willing to pay for premium service for industries they use regularly, such as banking, utilities, and telecom services.