Don’t keep me hanging, study says

Malaysia – Customer relationship managers of telco and financial institutions should take note of a study by Synovate that shows more than half of respondents (54%) cease doing business with a company due to poor call centre experience.

Call waiting represents the biggest challenge for Malaysian call centres and reducing the call waiting time is paramount, as it impacts customer satisfaction significantly.

Two thirds of customers will hang up after five minutes if they are not attended to, according to the survey.

Michael Beech, project director of Synovate Malaysia, said Malaysian companies should not limit their options when communicating with customers. He encouraged companies to explore non-conventional forms of communication to reach out to customers.

"Using instant messaging or IM as it is commonly known is another viable option for companies, when communicating and receiving feedback from customers. Our results show that 30% of Malaysian consumers are in favour of using IM to contact a call centre while 14% of respondents are already using IM to contact a call centre," he said.

The use of Short-Message-Service or SMS to receive information about a company's products and services was popular among 31% of Malaysians while more than one quarter (28%) of respondents said they were willing to provide feedback to a call centre via SMS.

There is also encouraging demand for the use of email particularly among teenagers and respondents in their twenties (15% of respondents).

Synovate surveyed 1,018 Malaysians across all income levels about their call centre experience and satisfaction levels.