Serial
Switchers
Swayed by
Sentiment
How poor emotive
customer experiences are
costing brands billions

Customer experience has become a crucial battlegroundfor businesses — and the losers are losing big. This report
explores the types of experiences that drive customers
away from businesses into the hands of their competitors,
what companies can do to stop them leaving; and why
providing more emotive service experiences is essential tocustomer relationships.

2 / 31

“NewVoiceMedia continues its focus on helping businesses create exceptional,
emotive customer experiences to serve better and sell more. We are all living
and working in the Age of Customer Experience, where companies compete
on the basis of customer delight, and as such, we maintain a pulse on trending
topics and provide in-depth analyses to improve customer experiences.
Business growth and customer retention are dependent on providing greatcustomer relationships. In the following research, we dig into some of thegreatest customer service struggles businesses are facing today. It is our hopethat by bringing these issues and technological gaps to light, we can help
improve the customer experience across industries.”
Dennis Fois, NewVoiceMedia CEO

Customer experiencehas become a crucial
battleground for businesses

3 / 31Are customers continuing to experience the same problems?
Customer service has never been higher on the C-level
agenda than it is today, and companies are investing
more than ever in efforts to improve the customer
experience (CX). Yet customer satisfaction is reaching
new lows, according to Forrester’s UK CX Index, with CX
quality worsening across the board between 2016 and2017. So, what’s going on? Why are so many businesses
getting it wrong?
We believe, reinforced by this study, that the failures lie
in a misunderstanding of what’s most important in CX –a miscalculation of the “Customer Experience Equation”.
There are three variables that make up Forrester’s CX
Equation: Did the customer achieve their goal, how easy
was it, and how did it make them feel.

That third piece of the formula – how the experience
makes customers feel – is the most important and makes
up 50 percent of the equation.* Therefore, providing
interactions that create positive emotional experiencesis the key to competing – and winning – in CX.
Indeed, the majority – 63 percent – of respondents toour survey said that if they felt they’d made a positive
emotional connection with a customer service agent,
they would be more likely to do business with thatcompany again. However, on average, respondents
indicated that they felt emotional connections with just
13 percent of companies they’d done business with overthe last year.

Providing interactions that create
positive emotional experiences is
the key to competing – and winning*Understanding The Impact Of Emotion On Customer Experience, Forrester, 2015

4 / 31

But why? Companies aren’t blatantly ignoring the needs of their customers.
Since NewVoiceMedia’s 2016 Serial Switchers survey,
the number of UK consumers who reported leaving
a business due to inadequate customer service isunchanged at 42 percent. Reasons for leaving include:
not feeling appreciated, not being able to speak to anadvisor, unhelpful/rude staff, being passed around tomultiple people and being put on hold for too long.

When asked about the key drivers of feeling emotionallyconnected to a brand, our survey respondents flagged
the ability to contact the company through any
channel (call, email, social media, web chat, etc.); being
connected to a highly knowledgeable customer service
agent; and being offered a personalised experience, as
the most important.

Businesses are botching the moments that matter intheir customer experience. They are failing to alleviate
pain points along their customer journey, which
compound into negative emotional experiences that areinconsistent with what today’s consumers have cometo expect.

.
“Emotive customer experience recognises that ourdecisions are driven by deep seated motivations:the things that really matter to us in terms ofidentity and personal fulfilment. Tap into theseand customers become more valuable in every
respect: from advocacy to lifetime spend.”

Martin Hill-Wilson, customer engagement
strategist and founder of Brainfood

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Today’s customers expect to get help on their terms —on any device and through any channel. They want tomove seamlessly from one channel to the next and pickup each conversation where they left off. They demandquick resolutions to their problems with the least
possible effort. Delivering on these expectations requires
complete visibility across each customer touchpointand every interaction, so service teams can optimise
processes and communication in ways that positively
impact a customer’s emotional experience.
Companies with cross-channel visibility into theircustomer journey are often able to eradicate thepotential frustrations that sour interactions. They can
reduce hold times, connect customers with the mostappropriate agent the first time, personalise experiencesand engage proactively.

6 / 31

35%

33%

7%

6%

4%

email

callingsocial media

webchattext

For many businesses, the core of these issues lies in the contact centre
While the recent proliferation of and advances in selfservice technologies now enable consumers to handle
many routine tasks easily, across many devices andchannels, our survey results indicate that customers
are still seeking live, human connections to resolve
their issues.
The majority of respondents selected emailing as
their preferred method of communication (35 percent),
followed by calling (33 percent), social media (7 percent),

webchat (6 percent) and text (4 percent). Additionally,
nearly half of respondents (48 percent) designated calls
as the quickest way to resolve an issue.
This suggests that frontline contact centre teams willcontinue to be the difference-makers on the battlefield
to win the hearts and minds of customers, and thatorganisations deploying self-service solutions should
ensure that there is always an option to reach a live
agent if the customer becomes frustrated or confused.

7 / 31

16%
However, only 16 percent of respondents said calls are
the most effective means of resolving an issue (down11 percent from 2016), with 49 percent believing there
is no most effective way to solve a customer service
problem. Our survey found that unnecessary obstacles
including being kept on hold, not being able to speak
to a “real person” right away and having to repeat info
to multiple agents have smothered the contact centre’s
perceived effectiveness. Again, many of these problems
echo symptoms of the aforementioned visibility issues.

Only 16 percent ofrespondents said calls are
the most effective meansof resolving an issue

8 / 31

“One of the most common shortcomings of CX programmes
is a limited focus on the elements of effectiveness and ease,without considering how the typical customer experienceleaves customers feeling. Effectiveness and ease areimportant, but the organisations that make an emotional
connection will ultimately drive higher satisfaction
and retention.”

Justin Robbins, customer service expert,
professional speaker and business consultant

More channels, more problems
Our research showed that 16 percent of customers
turn to social media as an effective channel to resolve
issues. However, many respondents view social
media as a bullhorn, blasting complaints in publicforums – essentially hurting companies to illicit a
response. This stick-over-carrot approach to resolving
issues is indicative of company failures to provide
quick, effective resolutions and positive emotional
experiences. The fallout from increasingly public
complaints means companies could face even greater
losses over time.

“In many ways, the capacity and computational power oftechnology far outstrips our own… Nevertheless, when
we’re looking for creative solutions to service problems,
we still seek out other humans. If we get stuck, if there’s
ambiguity in the information, or if we need help making apurchase decision, we still opt for a person.”

Ryan W. Buell, UPS Foundation Associate
Professor of Service Management in theTechnology and Operations Management
unit at Harvard Business School

9 / 31Never again
Dissatisfied customers are not just walking out on
businesses, they are slamming the door – and widely
sharing their negative experiences. Faced withpoor customer service, 31 percent of respondents
indicated they’d never use the offending company
again, 41 percent would write a complaint email/letter, 29 percent would change suppliers, 20 percent
would post an online review, a fifth would complain
publicly via social media, 8 percent would tell friends
and colleagues not to use the company, and 4 percent
would even inform the media. Just 15 percent would takeno action.

Serial switchers
Of those surveyed who had switched services over thelast year, 57 percent had changed once, and 43 percent
had switched two or more times (up 12 percent fromour previous study). It’s not simply a grass-is-alwaysgreener phenomenon; customers today have a higher
expectation for companies and are willing to shop
around for businesses that will meet their requirements.

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Sparking loyalty
It’s easy to blame the victim, but customers aren’t justbeing high maintenance. In fact, many are open andwilling to be wooed by caring companies. Survey
respondents indicated they would be more loyal(55 percent), would recommend the business to others(47 percent), would use the company more frequently(26 percent) and would spend more money (26 percent)if provided with better customer service.

55 percent of customers
would be more loyal
if provided with better
customer service

The resolution?
Customer service issues often stem from treatableproblems that begin in the contact centre.
Contact centres bogged down with long hold times,
disjointed channel experiences and inaccessible agents
systematically wear down customer appreciation andretention. In many contact centres, agents are stretched,across multichannel operating systems, with little
insight into the overall customer journey or back-end
operations. It’s a problem that will continue to chip away
at profits in the Age of the Customer.

11 / 31

Enter cloud contact centres linked to CRM
Cloud customer contact centre solutions, when tightly
integrated with your CRM platform, enable you tomonitor and automate customer interactions acrossall touchpoints, so you can provide consistent support
on every customer’s channel of choice. Cloud-based
automatic call distributor (ACD)/IVR and intelligent
call routing allow callers to be easily routed to theagents with the skills and knowledge to help them,eliminating the need for customers to repeat information.
Agents get immediate access to a single source of truththat presents important information about the caller,
including which products they own, open cases, caller
status and sentiment — allowing them to personalise theinteraction, resolve the caller’s problem and leave themwith a positive emotional experience.

12 / 31With integrated features like Conversation Analyzer,
NVM’s speech analytics solution, businesses can honein on potential frustrations across their customer
journey and focus on maximising the moments that
truly impact customer experience. Conversation
Analyzer turns thousands of hours’ worth of contact
centre calls into structured data that can be mined fora better understanding of customer experience andagent performance.

Motivate, NVM’s gamification software, builds onto thatby enabling managers to offer rewards and incentives
for agents who implement best practices and replicate
the behaviour of top performers.
Empowering service professionals with the right tools
and data is key because, ultimately, establishingemotive customer connections depends on better
conversations. With billions of pounds hanging in thebalance, it’s time for companies to consider their options.

Call recording technology enables managers to bettercoach agents by showing examples of calls that werehandled well and those that could use improvement.
Service teams can use these insights to improve theirprocesses and agent communication skills to help
customers solve problems more efficiently and ensurethat they feel good at the end of each conversation.

13 / 31

Research
results
This survey was undertaken by independent researchcompany Opinion Matters from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, 2018, witha sample size of 2,011 adults from the United Kingdom.

14 / 31

01

45%

31%

Have you switched to adifferent business as a resultof poor customer service?

42 percent of respondents reported leaving abusiness due to inadequate customer service.
Reasons for leaving by those who switched
included: feeling unappreciated (36 percent);
not being able to speak to a person (26 percent);
unhelpful/rude staff (26 percent); being passed
around to multiple agents (25 percent) andbeing fed up of queuing (20 percent). 7 percent
of customers had such low customer service
expectations that they didn’t even bothercontacting support for their service issue beforechanging companies.

53%

41%

55+
year olds

25 - 34
year olds

More men (45 percent) reported switching businesses than women(41 percent), and mirroring our 2016 survey, older generations,aged 55+, were the least likely to switch, with only 31 percent
indicating a change of business as the result of poor customer
service. Those aged 25 to 34 were the most likely to switch, with
53 percent making a change following a poor experience.

42%

42 percent ofrespondents haveleft a business due topoor customer service

15 / 31

02
If you switched, how much on
average were you spending?

Those who switched werespending an average of £308
over the course of a year,
which equates to a total of
the UK spending £7.1 billion.

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57%

03

43%

How many times have you
switched businesses in
the last year because ofpoor customer service?

57 percent of respondents who reported switching
patronage had changed businesses once in thelast year. 43 percent had switched two or moretimes (up 12 percent from the previous survey).

x1

x2+

17 / 31

04
What puts you off about
calling a business directly
in relation to an issue?

Respondents flagged being kept on hold(34 percent) as the top reason they dislike callingcompanies. They also noted not being able to speak
to a “real person” straight away (30 percent), having
to repeat info to multiple agents (26 percent), thecost of calling (23 percent) and needing to navigate
multiple menus (21 percent) as off-putting.

18 / 31

05
What would you do ifyou experienced poor
customer service?
Write a complaint
letter or email

41%
41 percent of respondents said they would write
a complaint letter or email if they experienced
poor customer service. 31 percent would never
use the company again, 29 percent wouldchange their supplier, 20 percent would post an
online review, 20 percent would complain via
social media and 8 percent would tell friends/
colleagues not to use that particular company.
Only 15 percent would take no action.

31%

Never use thecompany again

29%

Change supplier

20%

Post anonline review

20%Complain via
social media

15%

Wouldn’t
do anything

8%

Would tellfriends/colleagues
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06
What do you think is themost effective way to getyour problem resolved?

16%

Calls

16%

Social media
Email

12%
2%

Webchat

Incredibly, nearly half (49 percent) of respondents
said there is no effective way to get a customer service
problem solved.
16 percent believe calls are the most effective way ofresolving an issue. 16 percent said social media and 12
percent said email. Many consumers consider social
media to be effective due to its public nature, believing
companies are more incentivised to take action. Despite
the recent proliferation of self-service applications, only
2 percent of customers currently consider webchat to be
the most effective way of resolving problems.

20 / 31

Getting gored by the social bullhorn
In this age of apparent slipping customer service standards, itappears that more people are begrudgingly turning to otherchannels to get their problems resolved.
Customers are turning to social outlets to air their concerns, andthat could spell disaster for a brand’s reputation. Complaints on
public forums, online reviews and social media carry the weightof longevity. When companies can resolve issues by phone oremail but fail to, they may lose their footing to more customers
publicly shaming or ostracising their products and services.

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On average, respondents are willing to hold for up to
8 minutes before hanging up. As with the 2016 study,
women proved to be the more patient gender, willing on
average to spend two minutes longer than men on hold.

07
How long are you prepared to
wait on hold before hanging up?

Average hold times changed with age, showing
younger respondents are more patient than those inolder brackets. 16-24-year-olds are willing to hold for
11 minutes, 25-34-year-olds would hold for 10 minutes,
35-44-year-olds would hold for 9 minutes and those
aged 45+ would hold for 7 minutes.

On average, respondents
are willing to hold for up to
8 minutes before hanging up
22 / 31

08
If a company gave you good
service, how would this affectyour relationship with them?

If provided with good service, 55 percent of respondents
indicated they would be more loyal, 47 percent would
recommend the company to others, 26 percent would
use the company more frequently if they could and26 percent would spend more money. Only 17 percent
claimed good service would not affect their relationship.
As with the 2016 study, our findings reaffirmed that good
service is more likely to impact the loyalty of women (59percent) than men (51 percent). Women are also more

likely to recommend the company if provided with good
service (50 percent, versus 44 percent of men). Men are
more likely to claim that good service would not affecttheir relationship with the business (20 percent, versus 14
percent of women.
Also mirroring the previous study, half of those
aged 55 and over indicated they’d be likely to makerecommendations following positive service – the most
likely among the generations surveyed.

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50%
50%

44%

Women are more
likely to recommend
the company(50 percent, versus
44 percent of men)

20%

Half of those aged 55 andover indicated they’d be likely
to make recommendations
following positive service

14%

Men are more likely toclaim that good service
would not affect theirrelationship withthe business24 / 31

09
What is your preferred
method of communication
with a business?

35 percent of respondents selected email as
their preferred method of communication with abusiness, followed by a phone call at 33 percent.

25 / 3110Which method ofcommunication do you
think would give thequickest response to getyour issue resolved?

48 percent believe calls are the quickest way
to resolve an issue, while 13 percent think email.
Social media channels were selected by 11 percent
of respondents. Webchat was chosen by just 9
percent. Respondents between the ages of 35
and 44 were the most likely to select webchat(12 percent) compared to the other age brackets,with those aged 55+ being the least likely.

26 / 31

11
Thinking about thecompanies you have done
business with over the last
12 months what percentage
would you say you felt anemotional connection with?

13%

On average, respondents reported feeling an
emotional connection with just 13 percent of thecompanies they had done business with. Only
8 percent indicated that they’d felt emotional
connections with the majority of the businesses
they worked with (51 percent or more).
52 percent said they had not felt an emotional
connection with any business in the last year.

On average, respondents reported
feeling an emotional connection
with just 13 percent of the companies
they had done business with27 / 31

12
If you felt that you had made apositive emotional connection
with a brand and / or customer
service agent, would you be
more likely to do businesswith that company again?

63%

25 percent of respondents said they would be
extremely more likely to do business with acompany again if they felt they had made a positive
emotional connection with the brand or a customer
service agent, and 38 percent said they’d be slightly
more likely to return to the business. Just 14 percent
of respondents said making a positive emotional
connection would have no impact. Results wereconsistent between the genders and age ranges.

More likely to do business with acompany again if they felt they
had made a positive emotional
connection with the brand or acustomer service agent
28 / 31

13
What do you think are the key
drivers of feeling emotionallyconnected to a brand?

31%
Respondents rated being able to contact the company throughany channel as the top driver (31 percent), followed by being
connected to a highly knowledgeable agent (23 percent), a
personalised customer service experience (20 percent), finding the
shopping experience exciting/fulfilling (20 percent), being able tofind the information they needed through the company website(19 percent), not being kept on hold (14 percent), and having ahigh quality phone call connection with an agent (11 percent).
The top driver for the younger age brackets (16-54) was being
able to contact the business through their channel of choice,while the older bracket (55 and older) chose being connected
to a highly knowledgeable rep as their no. 1 driver for feelingemotionally connected to a brand.

Respondents rated
being able to contact thecompany through any
channel as the top driver

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In an era of empowered and ultra-connected consumers
who expect a rich and consistent experience irrespectiveof interaction channel, businesses that excel in engaging
customers across channels can retain nearly threetimes as much business as those without an omnichannel strategy. According to the Aberdeen Group,
organisations with the strongest omni-channel customer
engagement retain an average of 89 percent of theircustomers, compared to 33 percent for companies withweak omni-channel strategies.
NVM is passionate about helping drive great
conversations across all customer touch-points andwas one of the first to market with a fully integrated
omni-channel contact centre solution, which will enableorganisations to leverage their Salesforce digitalchannels without switching to a third-party solution
for the seamless digital and voice experience. Thismeans companies using Salesforce can provide a rich,consistent and integrated experience regardless of thechannel chosen by the customer.

30 / 31

About NewVoiceMediaNewVoiceMedia is a leading global provider of cloudcontact centre and inside sales solutions that enablebusinesses to create exceptional, emotive customer
experiences to serve better and sell more.
Its award-winning platform joins up all communications
channels without expensive, disruptive hardware
changes and plugs straight into your CRM for full accessto hard-won data. With a true cloud environment andproven 99.999% platform availability, NewVoiceMedia
ensures complete flexibility, scalability and reliability.
NewVoiceMedia’s 700+ customers include CanadianCancer Society, Ebury, FCR Media, FlixBus, JustGiving,
Kingston University, Lumesse, Paysafe and Vax. For more
information, visit www.newvoicemedia.com or follow
NewVoiceMedia on Twitter @NewVoiceMedia.

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