• by Aaron Baar , June 12, 2015

Despite the explosion of channels and opportunities to interact with the public, many companies are not following through adequately, leaving their customers dissatisfied and frustrated.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 consumers by Mattersight Corp., more than two-thirds of consumers who dial in to call centers every year are frustrated even before they begin the call. Furthermore, three-quarters of consumers said they were still frustrated at the end of the call, even if their problem was resolved.

One source of frustration comes from the wealth of information and channels that customers can use to find solutions to their problems before calling. Thanks to the ease and availability of Internet solutions, many customers have made many attempts to solve their problems on their own, says Jason Wesbecher, chief marketing officer at Mattersight. By the time they resort to calling customer service, they are already edgy and it’s likely they will require more than a simple fix.

“When you can’t figure out the problem on your own or using the Web, the call center is your last option,” Wesbecher tells Marketing Daily. “That call is going to be a little more complex.”

At the point they call in, customers want more personalization, humanity -- or at the very least, an acknowledgment that their issue is serious.

“The notion of personalized service is just that — a notion. Companies aren’t really following through on it,” Wesbecher says. “The call center has been very robotic and the stopwatch has been the guiding principle. That approach is baffling.”

Consumers choosing to use customer service via social channels, meanwhile, are not faring much better. According to a study from management consulting firm Northridge Group, a third of consumers who contact a company on social media never get a response. And when they do get a response, 30% of customers say the response did not meet their expectations.

Based on a survey of 1,000 customers (separate from Mattersight’s information), only 3% of consumers cite social media as their fastest channel for issue resolution, and only 2% cite it as their preferred channel. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of consumers have to engage with a company two or more times before having their issue resolved, while 39% take companies take a week or longer to resolve an issue via social channels.

“There are clearly opportunities for companies to provide excellent customer service on all channels including social media,” said Therese Fauerbach, CEO of the Northridge Group, in a statement. “Social media is a critical channel that companies should leverage to deliver a seamless omni-channel customer experience.”