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Published on November 26, 2007

Synovate surveyed 1,007 people across all income levels living in greater Bangkok about their call-centre experience and satisfaction levels.

Managing director of Synovate Thailand, Steven Britton, said that while more than half, 63 per cent, of respondents agreed that call centres have improved over the last two years, companies need to raise the bar and provide better, faster and more effective service when dealing with customers over the phone.

"With increased levels of competition and greater consumer demands, companies will need to act quickly in order to stay ahead.

"It should be nothing short of ensuring that each customer gets off the phone feeling like they had a great experience," he said.

Some 64 per cent of respondents had been in contact with a call centre in the past 12 months, while the most popular call centres consisted of telecommunications providers, food-delivery companies and financial institutions. Call waiting represents the biggest challenge for call centres and reducing the waiting time is paramount as it affects customer satisfaction significantly.

Sixty-seven per cent of respondents have stopped using a particular company due to a poor call-centre experience while 78 per cent said they would put the phone down if they had to wait up to five minutes.

When asked if they would prefer to be put on hold or to be called back, 58 per cent of respondents preferred to receive a return call instead of waiting.

"Call centres need to hire knowledgeable staff that can answer queries directly without needing to refer to another agent, but if that is not possible, nearly all respondents, 94 per cent, preferred to be transferred to someone more knowledgeable if the agent could not assist with their query," he added.

Companies rarely called existing and potential customers, with 37 per cent of respondents having received a courtesy call.

"It turns out that courtesy calls from a call centre were actually well received, with respondents reacting positively instead of

negatively - 36 per cent versus 17 per cent - dispelling fears companies may have had in the past when contacting customers," he said.

Eighty-eight per cent of respondents were willing to participate in a customer-satisfaction survey after contacting a call centre while 68 per cent said they would feel better about a company after having participated in a survey.

While voice calls may be the preferred choice for consumers when contacting a company, the survey also showed that there was a demand for the use of e-mail, 14 per cent, particularly among teenagers and respondents in their twenties.

The use of SMS text messages to receive information about a company's products and services was popular among 51 per cent while 57 per cent were willing to provide feedback to a call centre via SMS.

Britton advised companies with call centres to not limit their options when communicating and receiving responses from their customers.

He also encouraged companies to explore non-conventional forms of communication to reach out to customers.

"Using Instant Messaging, or IM as it is commonly known, is another viable option for companies. Our results show that 35 per cent of consumers are in favour of using IM to contact a call centre while 16 per cent of respondents are already using IM to contact a call centre," he said.