The Customer Service Survey
Service Quality Tracker
Updating Service Quality Tracker
Tue - March 25, 2008 01:43 PM
We've updated our Service Quality Tracker survey for tech support at different PC vendors, and we're starting to gradually roll out the new survey to participating consumers.
This is a major overhaul: we've expanded the survey from about a half-dozen questions to over 20, and we've added a long list of new metrics. Some of the new metrics are based on input from our clients, and we're also developing a consumer-focused metric based on the factors which consumers say are important to providing good service.
Some of the new things we're tracking include hold time, IVR problems, preferred communication channel, type of call, the type of resolution (if any) to the customer's problem, and whether the company attempted to upsell the customer.
This is in addition to the things we've long been tracking with our old Service Quality Tracker and the discontinued SectorPulse survey: satisfaction, loyalty, automation rate, completion rate, consumer frustration, and call duration.
Watch this space for more updates as things keep changing.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Some of the new things we're tracking include hold time, IVR problems, preferred communication channel, type of call, the type of resolution (if any) to the customer's problem, and whether the company attempted to upsell the customer.
This is in addition to the things we've long been tracking with our old Service Quality Tracker and the discontinued SectorPulse survey: satisfaction, loyalty, automation rate, completion rate, consumer frustration, and call duration.
Watch this space for more updates as things keep changing.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Customer Service Metrics
Wed - February 13, 2008 02:56 PM
As we're previously announced, we've ended our SectorPulse product in favor of expanding the Service Quality Tracker survey. We're also taking this opportunity to look at the things we measure, and try to improve the customer service metrics we use to compare different companies in the same industry.
I'm looking for any ideas or suggestions for things to measure about customer service quality. Our old metrics were:
1. Satisfaction
2. Call completion (aka "first call resolution")
3. Automation rate
4. Frustration rate (difficulty reaching an agent when needed)
5. Customer loyalty
6. Call length
This isn't a bad list, but I'm sure there are other things people would like to know.
So here's the question: What would you like to know about your competitor's customer service, the systems your competitors build, or the customer service of companies you do business with?
We're going to be collecting data through customer interviews immediately after a customer service call, so we can measure anything which can be put on a survey (plus some basic call statistics, like call length). We will not be able to include any data from the company's call center, such as hold times, number of transfers, etc., though we can ask about that in the survey. We will also not retain call recordings.
For us, the most useful metrics are those which can be broadly applied across different companies in different industries, regardless of the specifics of how they provide service. The goal is to have a handful of basic customer-centric metrics, and data for analysis about more technical or technology-specific parameters.
Please leave any suggestions in the comments, or e-mail them to me at pleppik@vocalabs.com.
Posted by Peter Leppik
1. Satisfaction
2. Call completion (aka "first call resolution")
3. Automation rate
4. Frustration rate (difficulty reaching an agent when needed)
5. Customer loyalty
6. Call length
This isn't a bad list, but I'm sure there are other things people would like to know.
So here's the question: What would you like to know about your competitor's customer service, the systems your competitors build, or the customer service of companies you do business with?
We're going to be collecting data through customer interviews immediately after a customer service call, so we can measure anything which can be put on a survey (plus some basic call statistics, like call length). We will not be able to include any data from the company's call center, such as hold times, number of transfers, etc., though we can ask about that in the survey. We will also not retain call recordings.
For us, the most useful metrics are those which can be broadly applied across different companies in different industries, regardless of the specifics of how they provide service. The goal is to have a handful of basic customer-centric metrics, and data for analysis about more technical or technology-specific parameters.
Please leave any suggestions in the comments, or e-mail them to me at pleppik@vocalabs.com.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Competitive Customer Service Information
Tue - February 12, 2008 02:38 PM
One of the hardest nuts to crack in the call center business is measuring the quality of customer service at competing companies.
It's easy to find out, for example, which bank charges higher fees or has more convenient hours. It's really hard to find out which bank will keep you waiting on hold longer, or which bank is more likely to fix your statement error on the first call.
This is a problem both for consumers and for companies. Consumers would really benefit from better information in deciding which company to do business with, and companies would benefit from a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
Competitive customer service data is hard to collect because it requires measuring a number of key metrics on a large number of individual calls on an ongoing basis. A neutral third party is needed to collect and compile the data in a way which will protect the competitive interests of individual companies while constructing meaningful benchmarks, but few companies are interested in providing anything more than the most superficial self-reported statistics.
Our old SectorPulse product provided some competitive customer service data, though it was with a limited sample and limited to the largest companies in the industries we tracked. Our Service Quality Tracker also attacks this problem, and we're planning to expand it with more industries, more companies, and a larger sample size.
What we're hoping to provide is something like a Consumer Reports of customer service: a credible source of information about customer service quality for both companies and consumers. We hope to give consumers a meaningful way to tell which companies are easy to do business with, and give companies a clear idea of how they stack up and what they could do better.
Posted by Peter Leppik
This is a problem both for consumers and for companies. Consumers would really benefit from better information in deciding which company to do business with, and companies would benefit from a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
Competitive customer service data is hard to collect because it requires measuring a number of key metrics on a large number of individual calls on an ongoing basis. A neutral third party is needed to collect and compile the data in a way which will protect the competitive interests of individual companies while constructing meaningful benchmarks, but few companies are interested in providing anything more than the most superficial self-reported statistics.
Our old SectorPulse product provided some competitive customer service data, though it was with a limited sample and limited to the largest companies in the industries we tracked. Our Service Quality Tracker also attacks this problem, and we're planning to expand it with more industries, more companies, and a larger sample size.
What we're hoping to provide is something like a Consumer Reports of customer service: a credible source of information about customer service quality for both companies and consumers. We hope to give consumers a meaningful way to tell which companies are easy to do business with, and give companies a clear idea of how they stack up and what they could do better.
Posted by Peter Leppik
An Ordinary Call
Wed - April 25, 2007 02:23 PM
This tech support call recording from our Service Quality Tracker surveys seemed so ordinary, yet so pointless and frustrating that I was inspired to add some video commentary.
There is nothing unusual about this tech support call. Thousands just like it happen every day. Perhaps you can relate....
(alternate link to the video)
Posted by Peter Leppik
Live Stats!
Fri - March 16, 2007 12:21 PM
We've now got live statistics posted for our Service Quality Tracker. This is our project to measure the relative quality of customer service at different companies in real time, based on consumer surveys.
Right now we're tracking four major PC manufacturers on the quality of their technical support. We rate each company on Satisfaction (the percentage of customers satisfied with their call) and Effectiveness (the percentage of customers who said they got what they needed on the call). Scores for Apple, Dell, Gateway, and HP are displayed, based on the most recent survey data.
As of this writing, the number of surveys for each company is relatively small, so I expect the numbers to bounce around a bit. As we collect more surveys, they should stabilize and give a reliable indication of how well each company's customer service is performing.
Posted by Peter Leppik
As of this writing, the number of surveys for each company is relatively small, so I expect the numbers to bounce around a bit. As we collect more surveys, they should stabilize and give a reliable indication of how well each company's customer service is performing.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Anatomy of an Unhappy Customer
Mon - January 22, 2007 05:04 PM
Most people have fairly decent experiences with customer service. Some people don't quite get what they want, but aren't too upset.
And then there are the calls that just get derailed from the moment the customer picks up the phone. Maybe even sooner.
As part of our Service Quality Tracker program, we invite consumers to have their customer service calls recorded and then survey them afterwards about the experience: just use our alternate toll-free phone numbers instead of the regular one (call 800-894-3218 for Apple tech support, 800-894-3639 for Dell tech support, 800-894-3552 for Gateway tech support, or 800-871-4439 for HP tech support).
We had a classic example in December from a customer trying to call Dell for technical support for her laptop--almost nothing went right, from the very first ringy-dingy. The result was a customer who complained in our survey about everything from the training of the customer service agent to the grammar in the speech recognition system.
Take a listen: This is the recording of the tech support call, and this is the recording of our survey (I've edited the recordings to remove personal information and cut some of the length out).
How many different things went wrong in this call? Let's count them:
Clearly this was a difficult call from the word Go. The customer needed someone to help her and perhaps hold her hand a little, but all she got was technical breakdowns, bureaucratic hoops, and misunderstanding. The technician did about as well as could be expected (which is to say, he tossed the call on like a hot potato), but even that just caused more frustration when the call transfer failed.
What could Dell have done better? Find a friendlier way to route calls than the "express service code." Don't allow so many errors in the speech system before transferring to an agent (even if that agent's only job is to route calls). And when the customer gives up and demands an agent, respect that choice instead of trying to force the customer to keep working through the automated system.
Posted by Peter Leppik
As part of our Service Quality Tracker program, we invite consumers to have their customer service calls recorded and then survey them afterwards about the experience: just use our alternate toll-free phone numbers instead of the regular one (call 800-894-3218 for Apple tech support, 800-894-3639 for Dell tech support, 800-894-3552 for Gateway tech support, or 800-871-4439 for HP tech support).
We had a classic example in December from a customer trying to call Dell for technical support for her laptop--almost nothing went right, from the very first ringy-dingy. The result was a customer who complained in our survey about everything from the training of the customer service agent to the grammar in the speech recognition system.
Take a listen: This is the recording of the tech support call, and this is the recording of our survey (I've edited the recordings to remove personal information and cut some of the length out).
How many different things went wrong in this call? Let's count them:
- Before the call even began--the customer was obviously irritated that her computer wasn't working properly (she couldn't get online). She never says, but I'm guessing that she'd been told to go online for technical support, but if you can't get online, well....
- At the very beginning of the call, she's talking to someone else in the room. The speech recognition system thinks she said "make a purchase."
- Then, the speech system fails to recognize the word "no" repeatedly when the customer tries to back out of the "make a purchase" confirmation.
- This leads the customer to testily ask "what part of 'no' didn't you understand?" which is, of course, not something the system is programmed to deal with.
- Once the customer finally gets into the technical support menu, the system asks for something called an "express service code." Presumably this is to help Dell route the call better, but the customer either can't find the code or is unwilling to cooperate with the speech system (and I can hardly blame her).
- Finally, the customer gives up on the automated system entirely, and starts just saying "operator" to every prompt. Naturally, the automated system is insistent on asking more questions until by the time the call goes to an agent the customer is clearly very upset.
- The poor technician doesn't stand a chance. It doesn't help that the he misinterprets the customer's problem and thinks that the problem is that she hasn't received the computer.
- And the capper: when the call is transferred to a different queue, all we get is a "fast busy."
Clearly this was a difficult call from the word Go. The customer needed someone to help her and perhaps hold her hand a little, but all she got was technical breakdowns, bureaucratic hoops, and misunderstanding. The technician did about as well as could be expected (which is to say, he tossed the call on like a hot potato), but even that just caused more frustration when the call transfer failed.
What could Dell have done better? Find a friendlier way to route calls than the "express service code." Don't allow so many errors in the speech system before transferring to an agent (even if that agent's only job is to route calls). And when the customer gives up and demands an agent, respect that choice instead of trying to force the customer to keep working through the automated system.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Announcing the Service Quality Tracker
Thu - October 12, 2006 02:19 PM
Starting today, we're running a new set of surveys tracking different companies in the same industry. We call it the Service Quality Tracker.
Like our long-running SectorPulse surveys, we'll be publishing data comparing multiple competing companies' customer service quality head-to-head.
With Service Quality Tracker, any consumer can participate simply by using our alternative toll-free numbers to call the companies we track. We'll forward the call to the company, then call the participant back right after the end of the call with our survey.
The really cool thing, though, is that we'll be posting live survey data to our web page (once we've got enough survey responses). You'll be able to see which companies have the best customer service based on the freshest data available.
The first industry we're covering is computer technical support. The alternative phone numbers you use to participate are:
We're pretty excited about this new project, and we're hoping to be able to gather some very useful statistics about which companies do a better job of serving their customers. I'm also hoping that by making this information readily available to consumers, we'll be able to change buying habits, and induce companies to improve their support levels.
Posted by Peter Leppik
With Service Quality Tracker, any consumer can participate simply by using our alternative toll-free numbers to call the companies we track. We'll forward the call to the company, then call the participant back right after the end of the call with our survey.
The really cool thing, though, is that we'll be posting live survey data to our web page (once we've got enough survey responses). You'll be able to see which companies have the best customer service based on the freshest data available.
The first industry we're covering is computer technical support. The alternative phone numbers you use to participate are:
| To Call | Dial | Instead of |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Technical Support | 800-894-3218 | 800-275-2273 |
| Dell Technical Support | 800-894-3639 | 800-624-9896 |
| Gateway Technical Support | 800-894-3552 | 800-846-2301 |
| HP Technical Support | 800-871-4439 | 800-474-6836 |
We're pretty excited about this new project, and we're hoping to be able to gather some very useful statistics about which companies do a better job of serving their customers. I'm also hoping that by making this information readily available to consumers, we'll be able to change buying habits, and induce companies to improve their support levels.
Posted by Peter Leppik