A recent survey from speech search specialist Aurix reportedly found that 70 percent of complaints made to call centers are 'not being heard.' 

 

And that's serious: More than 96 percent of respondents said they would consider switching to a competitor as a result.

 

Surveying more than 100 consumers, the Aurix survey asked respondents whether they had ever made a complaint to a call center, and if so, whether that complaint was taken seriously by the agent.

 

Peter Rogers, CEO at Aurix, found that their snap shot survey 'reinforces the message that customers are significantly more likely to churn to a competitor' based on a poor experience.

“In my opinion, it is these interactions which should be viewed as an opportunity to gain feedback and intelligence, as well as to deal with the customer’s query - take the chance to reinforce positive messages about your brand, not cause it any further damage.”

 

In December TMCnet's Jyothi Mahalingham reported on another survey from Aurix, which showed the majority of clients aren’t happy with call center agents.

 

'Poor interactions with clients and incapability to go beyond the scripted talking are the attributed reasons for the frustration. Fewer than two percent of the participants expressed happiness about the interactions with the agents,' he reported.

 

It's well-known that how a company handles a negative customer experience is a great time to bond a customer's loyalty. We have companies we patronize over the competition because of how they treated us when we had a problem.

 

Look, folks, everybody knows you'll screw up once in a while. Your customers know that. They're not expecting perfection, they're expecting you to rectify the situation when it happens. If you do they'll respect that.

 

Rogers admitted as much when he said technologies such as speech analytics provide a basis for identifying complaints and situations which could escalate. It is by acting quickly to remedy these complaints – improving processes and training for agents - that call centers can convert unhappy customers into advocates, protecting and in some cases promoting your brand.”

 

To enable call center managers to monitor the performance of their agents, and to identify how consumers are responding to them, Aurix has recently launched its desktop speech search and analytics product, Gopher-it.