5 Reasons Why Customers Hate Calling Contact Centers

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Nobody plans their day with an agenda on their mind that today, I will ring up and spend 20 to 30 minutes of my day, hearing a flute solo only to know that my call has been connected to the ‘wrong department’.

Reaching out for help can often become mandatory and hence the role of contact centers come in the picture. There are many a time when your customers need assistance to tackle a situation or address a query. Which works in your favour, your business depends on it. However, if you look at this situation from another angle, you will realise that for a customer it is often a very uncomfortable process, no matter how diligently you try and serve them. There will always be a possibility that 3 out of 10 customers are not happy with the quality of customer service experience.

If you dwell deep in this continuous rut of issues in contact centers, you will realise that the root cause is right there in front of your eyes. It is something which is pretty evident and can be solved easily. But to solve a problem, one needs to know the underlying reasons. Here’s a take on what are the most obvious reasons that your customers hate calling you up?

Long waiting times

Everyone has limited time. No one can really afford to be in a queue for 30 odd minutes just to check their account balance or lodge a complaint. This is one of the most obvious reasons why your customers prefer not to call.

Repetitive music

I have heard call recordings of frustrated customers. At one point of time, they are at the verge of yelling that – please at least make this music stop. The best solution for this issue can be to not make your queue songs stagnant and instead using those intervals to educate the customer about your products, self-help options, etc.

Lack of decisiveness

Your agents are often helpless, and even if they want to resolve an issue they feel incompetent to do so. The reason is simple. They lack the authority at times to take charge and call the shots. But not all your customers will understand this. They can feel that your customer engagement team is indecisive. And, it can add fuel to their already pent up frustration and anger.

Alternate help options

Human interaction is easy and reliable. But our technology setup has reached a point where there are limitless omnichannel self help options available. Your customers can seek support online, over social media, via in-app chat support and many other ways. With these advances, the need to necessarily talk over phone has gone down drastically.  

Offshore contact centers make it worse

It is not a cliché but a known fact that intercultural communication is hard. And mostly for all businesses, offshore contact centers become a source of providing customer service. This often makes it difficult for your customers to adjust and get use. This makes them feel unimportant and hence results in call escalations, which adds on to their bad temper and reduce chances that they will call again.

Besides keeping in mind these very obvious and important aspects of customer service, one also needs to be very vigilant when it comes to making sure that your customer services team is working with utmost efficiency. It can demand a little extra effort and scrutiny, but it can guarantee happy customers, who love calling your customer services team and are great promoters of your business.

I hope this list has been useful, in case you have more points to add, let me know in the comments section.  

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