New Study Uncovers Critical Flaws in Standard Call Center Strategy

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jun 9, 2015) -  A new survey conducted by Mattersight Corporation (NASDAQ: MATR), offers some surprising insights into the challenges facing many sales and service call centers and issues a call to action for customer service executives and other professionals charged with improving their customer experience.

Mattersight, the pioneer in personality-based software applications, surveyed more than 1,000 consumers to determine consumer sentiment towards customer service, to identify how businesses can improve their call center experience. What they found is that today's consumer is hyper-connected and more informed than ever, and many attempt to solve their problem without the help of a call center representative. By the time a call is placed, the problem is urgent and the frustration has been mounting, creating an immediate atmosphere of tension and negativity.

In fact, of the more than 70 million people in the United States who dial into customer service call centers every year, nearly two-thirds are frustrated before they even start talking with a customer service representative, according to the survey data. And alarmingly, 75 percent of consumers surveyed reported still feeling frustrated at the end of a customer service call, even if their problem was successfully resolved. The constant consumer negativity presents a challenge to customer service executives.

"Call centers are stuck in a cycle of customer frustration," said Kelly Conway, President and CEO of Mattersight. "Rather than diffusing the situation and providing each consumer with personalized service, most businesses still measure success on getting callers off the phone as quickly as possible -- doing little to improve the customer experience."

The Call Center Customer Experience

Mattersight's survey results demonstrate that the key to creating a positive customer experience is connecting callers and agents who are most likely to enjoy a natural rapport, based on their paired personality traits.

This approach delivers on the desire expressed by 92 percent of surveyed consumers, who said that if given the option, they would prefer to choose their customer service representative, based on the representative's personality, compassion, and knowledge. The survey also uncovered consistent trends in what consumers are looking for in a call center agent:

• More than half of the respondents said that they want call center agents to acknowledge that their problem is important.
• Consumers prefer to speak to call center agents who are dedicated and conscientious, or logical and specific. 
• More millennials would prefer to speak with warm and caring call center agents, than would consumers 35 and older.

"95 percent of consumers surveyed said that good experiences are what keep them coming back to call center experts when they're in need," said Conway. "The consumer needs and desires came through loud and clear in this survey: Businesses need to better understand personality and communication preferences. Improving the call center experience benefits consumers, agents and the company bottom-line."

Mattersight will be at the 16th Annual Call Center Week at booth 600 from June 15 -19, 2015 in Las Vegas. Mattersight will host a session at the conference on Thursday, June 18, at 2:15 p.m. in Track A. The session is titled "Personality Matters" and will be led by Carin Nelson, Vice President of Customer Success at Mattersight, and Rhonda Hammond, Vice President of Operations at TriWest Healthcare Alliance. If you are interested in setting up a briefing with Mattersight at Call Center Week, please contact Mattersight@Corporateink.com. 

To learn more about improving the call center customer experience and the role of personality in customer service, download Mattersight's latest survey results.

About Mattersight
Mattersight's mission is to help brands have more effective and effortless conversations with their customers. Using a suite of innovative personality-based software applications, Mattersight can analyze and predict customer behavior based on the language exchanged during service and sales interactions. This insight can then facilitate real-time connections between customers and the agents best capable of handling their needs. Mattersight's patented stack of SaaS applications has influenced hundreds of millions of shorter, more satisfying customer interactions. Organizations across the financial services, healthcare and telco industries rely on Mattersight to drive customer retention, employee engagement and operating efficiency. An independent research study documents that the average return on investment for these organizations is 344 percent. To learn more about how Mattersight can help your company, please visit www.mattersight.com. Follow Mattersight on Twitter at @Mattersight.