Superior customer service beats price in Indian market

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Verint Systems Inc. announced results from a consumer insights survey conducted by Ipsos, a global market research organization, on the state of customer service in the Asia Pacific region.

In the survey of more than 5,800 consumers across six countries-including India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and Indonesia-consumers revealed that most have experienced poor customer service, and surprisingly, have low expectations of receiving great service.

Key findings paint a common picture of poor customer service, frustrated consumers with low service expectations, an increased rate of sharing positive or negative experiences online to a wider audience, and a willingness to place a greater value on customer service than price.

The Verint Consumer Insights study revealed that the percentage of consumers that experience poor customer service is high across all surveyed industries in Asia Pacific: financial services (51 percent), utilities (51 percent), hotel and travel (51 percent), retail (59 percent) and telecoms (64 percent).

Specifically in India, the percentage of consumers who have experienced a service problem within the past six months ranges from 90 percent in the utilities industry to 95 percent in the financial and telecommunication industries.

Indian consumers also rank the highest in the survey in using emotions to get what they want (36 percent), getting angry when companies make mistakes (68 percent), and calling support helplines for better service (58 percent).

With survey results suggesting that consumer expectations of customer service are low, companies that can improve their customer experiences are well positioned in today's market to gain significant business advantage over the competition.

Verint's Impact 360 Workforce Optimization and Voice of the Customer Analytics software can help by capturing and sharing intelligence across the entire organization. This not only allows a company to deliver a more consistent, customer-pleasing experience, but also helps avoid over and understaffing and drive down costs, identify trends, and use the "voice of the customer" to drive strategic decisions on products, services processes, and more.