#contactcenterworld, @Verint

Which brands get top marks from consumers when it comes to contact center experience? Allstate, Bank of America, Cox, Kaiser Permanente, and T-Mobile took the top spots in their industries based on a survey of 6,338 consumers. The resulting research also finds that companies can save more than one million dollars per one million calls by increasing the success of their digital, self-serve options by 25 percent.

The results were announced by Verint(R) Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNT), The Customer Engagement Company™, based on the latest Verint Experience Index™, which benchmarks customer satisfaction with the contact center experiences of 25 leading brands in the banking, health insurance, property/casualty insurance, cable and telecom sectors. The brands’ Net Promoter Scores(R) were also factored in compiling the rankings.

For more than a decade, the Verint Experience Index (VXI) has chronicled digital and omnichannel experiences across key industries, from retail to utilities to government (previous editions were published as the ForeSee Experience Index). The latest VXI, based specifically on the telephone contact experience, measures four key drivers that impact a caller’s overall satisfaction with their contact center experience: accessibility in reaching an agent, request resolution, sales-service representative, and voice clarity and quality. Allstate was the only brand to rank first in all four drivers while Bank of America, Spectrum and Humana each ranked first for three out of four drivers.

The Index also uncovers key findings underscoring the impact of consumer contact-center satisfaction on the overall omnichannel customer journey, including the correlation between issue resolution and switch consideration/churn rates, increase in self-service and hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings, and the connection between great experiences and the likelihood to recommend the brand.

Self-service success = one million dollars in savings

Reinforcing the omnichannel nature of the customer journey today, nearly half of consumers engaged in a digital experience prior to calling the contact center. This ranged from 51 percent of consumers for health insurers to 46 percent for property/casualty insurers. The study also found that a 25 percent increase in self-service success rates could result in savings of over one million dollars per contact center, with health insurers standing to gain the most. The potential savings for each one million calls diverted from the contact center was calculated to range from $1,147,500 for health insurers to $1,080,000 for banking and telecom providers, $1,057,500 for cable providers and $1,035,000 for property/casualty insurers.

Risk of customer defection trends high when issues are not resolved

High call resolution is a central focus for brands aspiring to deliver quality customer service. Non-resolution rates, which range from 14-20 percent per sector, can result in an increased risk of customer defection. The research revealed that of those consumers who reported their issues were not resolved, nearly half would consider switching to a competitor. The study looked at the correlation between issue resolution rate and proclivity to churn in order to evaluate the proportion of respondents who would consider switching providers. The stakes were found to be highest in the cable industry, where 66 percent would consider a switch resulting in a churn rate of 13.2 percent.

Consumers reward great customer experience

Regardless of industry, consumers value and reward brands that deliver great customer experiences, and satisfaction impacts future behavior. Banking customers with a great experience (a CSAT score of 80 or higher) had a 134 percent higher likelihood to recommend the brand than those with a poor experience (CSAT of 60 or lower). A great experience in the cable sector netted the highest likelihood-to-recommend score of all industries evaluated in the index – 163 percent – underscoring the vital importance of customer experience in this industry.

"Leading consumer brands know exceptional customer experiences are paramount; they also recognize the value of the contact center as the cornerstone of a strategic omnichannel customer-experience management approach," says Verint’s Ben Smith, vice president and general manager, Experience Management solutions. "We are pleased to share the Verint Experience Index as a benchmark as more companies recognize the value of experience data as a key driver for accelerating business outcomes."

#contactcenterworld, @Verint

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: https://www.businesswire.com