The respected University of Michigan’s “American Customer Satisfaction Index”, created in 1994, is an interesting example of correlating customer satisfaction to buying behavior.

The most recent (August 14th, 2007) release of the ASCI shows that the rate of customer satisfaction is slowing. This latest release, found at http://www.theacsi.org/images/stories/images/news/0507q1.pdf, shows that while some industries have improved customer satisfaction, others have dropped their scores.

As we turn to the contact center’s impact on customer satisfaction, we see ongoing anecdotal information indicating that the primary reason people leave a supplier or consumer relationship is a poor interaction based on the indifference of one individual.

Why is it getting harder to serve customers well? In the next three blogs, I’d like to offer three possible reasons for this challenge.

Customer Satisfaction Challenge #1: The Balance of Interaction Power Has Shifted to the Initiator/Consumer
The early days of the call center were characterized by relatively straightforward voice interactions – where the balance of product information and insights was controlled by the company, not the consumer. Think of the classic GE Answer Center. Efficient and well-run, this was one of the best examples of customer interaction capabilities pioneered in the early 1980’s. You had the questions, and they had the answers.

However, the rise of the Internet ushered in a new kind of consumerism that drastically shifted the balance of insight over to the consumer side of the equation. Now interactions are characterized by highly informed consumers interacting with equally informed (or often, less informed) resources. Where the balance of insight is often lacking is in the following two domains – the total customer relationship with the firm, and the level of research and insight the customer has already brought into the interaction. Remember my consumer electronics interaction from an earlier blog, where even though I repeatedly told the agent I had performed all the “Tier 1” type resolutions, they insisted on going through a scripted check list which included six remedies I had already performed (from several years of experience with the product).

A best practice I’ve seen in high tech help desks is maintaining a level of support qualification (in either web forms or voice self service scripting) that allows the consumer to hear or see Tier 1 and Tier 2 remedies prior to reaching a resource. I recall at least two or three instances where I actually heard the resolution to my issue while in queue, and I appreciated that pre-emptive strategy to service. Not only did I not tie up a “carbon” (human) resource, but I reduced the need for “silicon” (software) by dropping out of queue, reducing port requirements and associated telecommunications services costs. For those of you who use chat, this approach can significantly cut into the AHT for chat agents, typically the most expensive way to interact with customers.