New UK Survey Reveals What Customers Find Most Frustrating About Contact Centres

Excellent customer service is the backbone of any business and when customers have a complaint, they rely on reaching out to the contact centre team to fix their problems. Due to the pandemic, contact centres have had to cope with a sudden surge in demand of queries across a variety of industries since face-to-face contact has been reduced and with this increase in demand, there are inevitably going to be aspects that customers would find frustrating when dealing with contact centres.

To identify how the past 12  months has affected customers’ attitude towards contact centres and what they find most frustrating about contact centres, Awaken surveyed 750 UK contact centre customers to rank their biggest call centre-related annoyances and here some of the top reasons why customers are frustrated:

Speaking to chatbots or pre-recorded lines

Even though most businesses install automated systems to reduce service cost or manage the increasing burden on call centres, they are reported to be the public’s number 1 irritation towards call centres. Some pre-recorded lines can potentially last for five minutes or longer, without eventually offering any type of help to the customer.

Poorly set up automated phone systems with multiple menu options to select at each stage before getting your issues resolved can drive an already frustrated customer crazy. Customers want to deal with live representatives because human interaction is an integral part of the decision-making process.  If customers cannot speak to another agent and convey their emotions about a certain query, they can then just easily hang up the call.

Agents taking too long to resolve the query

Nobody wants to call a customer support centre for a quick fix and have to wait endlessly before getting a solution. This factor contributes to the frustration customers endure when they have to deal with call centres. Slow response, transferring from agent to agent, treating customer complaints as less than priority, leaving calls unanswered are a few examples of bad customer service that leave customers unhappy.

Due to the overwhelming surge in virtual services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, call centre employees might be stressed and overwhelmed, and thus become less productive.

Rude/dismissive customer service reps

Disgruntled customers who encounter rude agents are more likely to feel more angered than they were before making the call. Some agents respond to customers with a lack of concern for their problems and are just not enthusiastic about providing solutions. Some representatives may even argue back and blame the customer.

No matter how emotionally sensitive the situation is, speaking to customers in a calm and friendly tone is an important part of a great customer service attitude.

An Agent was inexperienced

It is frustrating enough that a customer has tried several self-help methods before contacting the call centre, but nothing makes it more irritating than speaking to an agent who is just as clueless as you are. Customer service representatives cannot help customers if they are not familiar with the ins and outs of the product or service.

Newbies and novice agents at the call centre should be thoroughly trained in handling customers and extensive knowledge of all products and services or assisted by more experienced representatives when the need arises. Companies should provide representatives with a good knowledge base containing all relevant information needed to solve customers’ problems.

Long waiting time for a call

Customers are increasingly frustrated by the unnecessarily long waiting time at most call centres. Nothing can be more irritating than contacting a call centre for a solution to an urgent problem and being placed on hold. Most callers will rather hang up and never call back. The digital age is fast-paced, customers are looking for quick and effective responses.

Nobody wants to waste minutes listening to annoying hold music or endure the robotic machine voice reading out multiple menu options before directing them to a call centre representative. Keeping customers waiting for a first response, abandoning a call or delaying a call back for too long is a sure way to lose them.

Not receiving a response on live chat/social media.

Nowadays, social media is the go-to place for everything you can possibly think of. Businesses are investing in a good social media presence to connect with their customers. Most customers prefer to make their complaints on social media channels and accept a response as fast as possible, preferably within an hour.

Not receiving a response or receiving late responses on digital platforms is a major source of frustration for most customers. Leaving customers unanswered across different channels speaks poorly about the brand. Customers expect to leave a live chat or business social media page with a feeling of satisfaction, not hopelessness.