Technology’s Back-end Effect

Despite countless horror stories of customers lost in “promptland,” most of this technology has been developed with the best intentions. Yet numerous studies have shown this promise often has remained out of reach.

A recent Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index survey found that 55 percent of customers indicated they’re dissatisfied with automated self-service phone systems. The research also showed that based on their most recent call-center experience, almost three out of four retail customers would do less business with the company they called.
Developing Trend
For direct marketers, call centers are an important link to customers and bear heavily on the viability of long-term relationships. At the same time, the Web is rapidly becoming the order channel of choice for many consumers, and the role of the call center is changing over to one that primarily fields technical support, product support and other customer-service functions.