A Better Answer Blog

Even though the volume of inbound calls is higher with the interactive phone menu, a new report from the CFI Group (Claes Fornell International), a company specializing in improving customer satisfaction, clearly shows that reaching a live representative instead of an automated phone menu makes a significant difference in customer satisfaction.

The Contact Center Satisfaction Index (CCSI) is an extensive study of customer satisfaction with contact centers based on a 100 point scale. When customers call a contact center, they get a live representative 48% of the time. People who reach a live representative directly have a CCSI of 81, compared to 72 for people who reached an automated system first. In addition to this major difference in customer satisfaction, there was a 3% increase from 42% to 45% of people that immediately tried to bypass automated options in hopes of talking to a live operator. Automated phone menus were created to efficiently direct the customer to the correct information. The CCSI study has shown that even with enhancements in these menu systems, customers prefer speaking with a live operator directly.

At A Better Answer, we know that even the most simplified, straightforward phone menu systems are still no match for the warm greeting of a live answering service with real operators you can converse with; and that ‘virtual receptionist’ shouldn’t mean the automated voice that makes an attempt to recognize what it thinks you said. How many times have you had to sit through a long winded menu when you just needed the answer to one simple question? We hear that, and we’re here to save you! Let A Better Answer be your call handling heroes today!

Source: Contact Center Satisfaction Index 2010 by CFI Group North America