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Studies
Show Strong Link Between Employee Job Satisfaction and Customer
Service Quality
Customer sales and service representatives (CSRs) deliver the best
service when they are happy in their jobs, and delivering quality
service is what makes them happy, according to recent studies that
illustrate the link between employee satisfaction and customer service.
Aspect Communications Corporation, the provider of business communications
solutions that help companies improve customer satisfaction, reduce
operating costs, gather market intelligence and increase revenue,
and The Radclyffe Group, a customer interaction engineering firm,
each conducted studies recently that illustrate the importance of
quality service-both to the customers who receive the service and
the employees who deliver it.
"These two studies offer dramatic evidence of the link between
customer service and employee satisfaction," said Guy Morgante,
Aspect's senior vice president of worldwide customer service and
support. The Aspect-sponsored survey was fielded to 1,000 consumers
by Greenfield Online, a Connecticut-based marketing research firm.
"We also found extremely strong benefits-in the form of repeat
customers and word-of-mouth advertising-for companies that provide
quality service. Given the importance of quality service, we salute
the millions of contact center professionals who help customers
every day. It's hard to think of a harder-working, more dedicated
group of people."
The Radclyffe Group surveyed 400 contact center employees at 16
different companies for its report, "The True Face of Business:
How Employee Satisfaction and Contact Center Culture Impact the
Bottom Line." The study found employees are eager to deliver
quality service but often lack timely information on how well they
are doing.
According to the study, 86 percent of contact center employees
know what is expected of them in their jobs, but only 46 percent
are kept up-to-date with information indicating how satisfied customers
are with their products and services. The better informed, trained
and more involved employees are, the better the service they provide,
thereby increasing customer satisfaction.
The Aspect-sponsored survey shows that the service employees provide
can be vital to a company's success. The survey reveals that if
a company's customer service were unsatisfactory, 59 percent of
consumers would stop doing business with the company, 57 percent
would switch to a different company's product or service, and 53
percent would tell friends and family members not to do business
with the company. Survey respondents could choose to take more than
one action.
The survey also revealed that when service is excellent, an overwhelming
majority of customers-82 percent-are likely to recommend a company
to friends and family. Additionally, 78 percent of consumers are
likely to become repeat customers when they have a positive service
experience. The good news is that there is room for improvement.
Only 24 percent of consumers responded that they are very satisfied
with the service they receive over the phone. The majority-52 percent-said
they are somewhat satisfied. An impressive 78 percent said that
if representatives were better informed and could provide more than
one service instead of passing them on to other representatives,
their satisfaction would improve.
"Businesses that recognize that their contact center representatives
are their connection to customers will retain more of their customers
and their employees," said Elizabeth Ahearn, president and
chief executive officer of The Radclyffe Group. "By combining
the right contact center technology and customer management strategies,
companies can reap the many benefits of having very satisfied customers."
The Radclyffe Group study also found the amount of time taken to
resolve an issue from start to finish to be the factor with the
greatest impact on customer satisfaction. In a consistent finding,
the Aspect-sponsored survey revealed that for two-thirds of customers,
decreasing the time spent waiting for a CSR would improve satisfaction
levels.
"Customers are acutely aware of the time they spend trying
to resolve issues," said Ahearn. "Customers remember their
experiences, and unmet expectations can have a devastating effect
on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction is also very important
to customer service reps, who clearly want their callers to be satisfied.
We've found that customer satisfaction is directly related to CSRs'
job satisfaction, which when high can help companies avoid turnover,
which in turn improves customer satisfaction. It is all very related.
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