Consumers are frustrated with companies’ poor customer service, and they’re losing patience. They’re repeating personal information, waiting on hold, and talking to overworked, sometimes unfriendly, agents. And it comes at a high cost: if you’re delivering a poor customer experience (CX), 96% of consumers say they’ll leave your company.

Organizations are aware of this and implementing transformation at scale to accelerate the journey to improve CX
even though they’re struggling to hire qualified agents amid escalating turnover rates, experiencing high operational
costs due to rising inflation, and suffering from diminished top-line revenue.

Tough issues that support center leaders are contending with include:

1. Uncertain economy A recession may be on the horizon which will impact costs and revenue.

2. High customer acquisition costs (CAC) It’s expensive to replace customers who’ve defected to competitors — as much as six to seven times more versus keeping the customers you already have. Although acquisition costs vary by industry, a study finds that the average CAC ranges from $205 for SaaS companies to $640 for financial services firms.

3. Declining customer satisfaction (CSAT) As of the fourth quarter of 2021, almost 80% of companies have failed to increase their customers’ satisfaction since 2010. 

4. High employee turnover The turnover rate for the support center industry ranges between 30-45%—the highest of any industry.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected average growth rate for all occupations from 2020 – 2030 is 8%, but for customer service specifically, estimated growth is actually -1%

71% of customer service agents are considering quitting their jobs. 

5. Low worker productivity Worker productivity fell 7.5% in the first quarter of 2022, the biggest decline since 1947. 

6. High agent training costs Training new employees costs an average of $1,071 per individual.