New report says almost half of customer service issues in SG are left unresolved

SINGAPORE: A new report from Qualtrics XM Institute showed that only 57 per cent of consumers in Singapore said their issues were fully resolved during interactions with customer service.

Moreover, only 20 per cent reported being fully satisfied with their wait time in customer service transactions.

Mr Bruce Temkin, Head of the Qualtrics XM Institute, said, “Organisations in Singapore are risking more than 5 per cent of their sales because of poor customer experiences, demonstrating the need for enabling and empowering frontline teams to resolve issues in a timely and effective manner.”

“At a time when consumers are more careful about their spending, have unprecedented choice, and increasing expectations, organisations that fail to address this gap risk losing their customers forever,” he added.

The report was prepared from data gathered from over 1,100 consumers in Singapore and shows how frontline customer service teams impact customer satisfaction, spend, and trust across several countries.

It shows how useful empathy is not only in keeping the trust of a consumer but in actually saving an interaction, despite a long wait time to talk to a customer service agent.

Interestingly, the report also shows that more than half of the respondents in Singapore said that they prefer human over automated channels for carrying out customer service interactions.

Face-to-face interactions got the highest preference percentage (27 per cent), followed by speaking with someone on the phone (21 per cent).

This holds true for specific customer services as well, with 45 per cent saying they prefer to speak to someone on the phone regarding billing issues, and 35 per cent choosing this option when it comes to receiving technical support.

But for other types of transactions, self-service options on either mobile phones or computers were the more popular choices, with 72 per cent of respondents who book air tickets, 64 per cent who need a status update on their orders, and 57 per cent scheduling a medical appointment choosing this option.

/TISG

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