66% of customers are frustrated before they even start talking with a customer service representative, U.S. State of Multichannel Customer Service report reveals.

With so much going on in everyone’s life, people are always trying to find easier ways to finish their tasks and accomplish their day to day goals. Therefore, reaching out to a customer support agent needs to be as seamless as possible.

So If customer service agents are supposed to solve customer issues, then why do many people dread this process? Why is there so much hate when it comes to calling customer support?

Let’s find out why frustration and rage are common emotions as a result of these interactions and how we can turn them around.

Here are three things customers HATE and how they can be improved:

1. Waiting on hold for so long

Is your contact center still forcing customers to wait on hold?

According to INVOCA Survey Report, 53% of people will only stay on hold for five minutes or less.

Wasting your customer’s valuable time is the last thing you want to do. No one likes to be put on hold and wait endlessly for a customer support agent to finally show up. It’s frustrating and encourages public display of dissatisfaction toward your brand.

In this case, having multiple touchpoints for customers to communicate with your company decreases the load on your contact center. Encourage customers to be a part of your social media platforms and offer different solutions such as chatbots and emails.

Lower your average handling time by incorporating a Co-Browsing solution into your existing support system. Co-Browsing enables customer support agents to view the customer’s browser tab in real-time to assist and guide them in your website. By guiding customers visually, issues are resolved in the first call, and customers are satisfied.

Include a call-back option so your customer service rep. can schedule another call with the customer.

2. Repetition of Concern

It’s already an annoying task trying to reach the customer service rep. But having to reexplain your concerns can get extremely frustrating.

In a study done by Gladly in 2019, 54% of customers would rather spend a whole day wearing wet socks than repeating themselves. Humor aside, this shows how repeating yourself to a rep. can be daunting.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution: Make sure all customer service reps. write brief notes about the problem as they transfer the customer to the next agent. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page, and the next agent will already have an idea of what is going on.

3. The Agony of an Automated Menu

IVRs are the least-liked automated format for customer service. According to ConsumerReports, one of the top sources of annoyance with 75% of the respondents saying that they were “highly annoyed” when they weren’t able to reach a live support agent.

Customers want to speak with real people, not an annoying phone menu. Lengthy and prolonged prompts are difficult to follow. Streamlining the process for phone systems so your customers can easily reach the appropriate customer service agent is the best solution to cut down the frustration and agony of using automated menus.

Applying this method will reflect positively on your brand and will reduce negative feedback on social media and online platforms.

Main Takeaways:

Customers reject companies offering lousy customer service, and this can easily lead them away from your brand. In this customer-centric world, customers are always put first. Identifying your weaknesses as a contact center and providing the appropriate changes can tremendously improve the quality of your customer support and drive loyalty towards your brand.