Did you know that a customer service agent’s perceived happiness has a direct impact on a consumer’s experience with a brand? That is according to new research released by LiveOps, a cloud contact center and customer service solutions provider.
LiveOps partnered with Harris Interactive and Social Business Builders to conduct the research, which included a survey of 1,255 consumers 18 years and older. The research yielded four critical points:
1. Happy Agents Equal Happy Customers: 92% of consumers surveyed indicated that a customer service agent's perceived "happiness" has a direct impact on their customer experience with the brand.
2. Integrating Social Channels on the Agent Desktop Is a Requirement: 85% of consumers surveyed said that how a brand handles issues on their website or on social channels, like Facebook or Twitter, is a strong indicator of a brand's ability to deliver customer satisfaction and quality of support.
3. Most Brands Fail to Provide Consistent Service Across Multiple Channels: 89% of consumers surveyed believe it is important to be able to communicate with companies by any channel, including social media, and still receive the same quality and efficiency of response. What’s more, 61% of social media users feel that brands do not effectively communicate with them on these channels.
4. Live Agent Service, Regardless of Channel, Is Preferred Over Self-service: 90% of customers surveyed value the ability to communicate with a live person on any channel--voice, email, chat, SMS, or social.