Member Article

Good call? Less than a quarter of consumers happy with businesses' phone manner

Less than a quarter of consumers are satisfied with the way British businesses handle their phone calls, new research has revealed.

The study of 1,000 consumers, conducted by global research consultancy TNS on behalf of PH Media Group, discovered just 23 per cent of respondents are pleased with companies’ phone manner.

Older consumers were found to be particularly dissatisfied, with only 12 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds pleased with how their calls are handled, compared to 34 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds and 27 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds.

“Poor call handling is a constant bugbear for the British consumer but, despite this, it appears Britain’s businesses have still not risen to the challenge of raising standards,” said Mark Williamson, Sales and Marketing Director, PH Media Group.

“There is perhaps a tendency among companies to focus their attention and budgets on visual marketing and internet presence but the telephone remains a crucial aspect of branding, marketing and sales.

“If only 23 per cent of customers are pleased with the way their calls are being handled, this means there is an even larger number who have generated a negative perception through bad caller experience.”

Levels of satisfaction also fluctuate throughout Britain.

Londoners are most happy, with 32 per cent claiming to be satisfied with how their calls are handled, followed by the Wales and the South West (27 per cent) and those in the Midlands (25 per cent).

On the other hand, northerners appear to be the most unhappy. Only 15 per cent of Scots are satisfied and the figures are similarly low in Yorkshire and the North East (16 per cent) and the North West (18 per cent).

“Regardless of the regional differences, satisfaction levels remain low across the board, so there is an onus on businesses to address this by improving overall caller experience,” added Williamson.

“Responding to calls quicker or establishing a set practice for answering the phone both represent a good start but true best practice can be achieved by implementing tools such as on-hold marketing - bespoke voice and music messages that are played on hold - in order to establish top-class service and a congruent brand across all touchpoints with customers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Thornton .