New ICMI & inContact Research Provides Insight on Delivering Customer Experience Excellence in the Contact Center

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) and inContact, today released the 2015 report, "Smarter Service for the Connected Consumer: Delivering Customer Experience Excellence in the Contact Center." The new research uncovers the gaps between contact center assumptions and customer expectations – and how to overcome this divide. Based on a survey composed by ICMI and inContact in the summer of 2015, the report delivers insight and supportive data to help improve operations and move contact centers past the status quo.

For more information and to download the full report, visit: icmi.com/Resources/Research/2015-Smarter-Service-for-the-Connected-Consumer

The survey delivered insight into what customer management leaders perceive as important and believe is required of them and their contact centers in order to effectively operate in today's industry. More importantly, the survey helped to understand a willingness to make the changes necessary to align with consumer expectations.

The report reveals important findings, providing a glimpse into what today's contact center professionals stress as important, unimportant and what changes they find necessary. These items were categorized into four key sections, critical to understanding the foundation for excellent customer management.

Customer Service is the New Marketing
It's important to have sound, reliable and desired products that are competitively priced but, products can be rapidly commoditized. As a result, customer service or, perhaps more appropriately the contact center, finds itself in the spotlight as the competitive differentiator and epicenter of the organization.

Contact Centers are a Critical Touch-point
Contact center leaders recognize that their centers play an integral role throughout the customer's journey. However, less than one-fourth of contact center leaders believe that their organization provides a consistent customer experience across the customer journey.

Data Steers the Contact Center
Metrics should be a measurement of success that indicates how close a contact center is to achieving its goals. Many contact centers make a detrimental mistake by focusing so intently on their metrics that they forget to consider whether they are actually measuring success, or how close their contact center is to reaching its goals.

Contact Center Perceptions of the Customer Experience
A key component of ICMI and inContact's research study was a series of questions in which contact center leaders were asked to review a series of statements about customers and indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with each. Key findings from these questions included:

• 80% of consumers say companies put more effort into selling than they do providing excellent customer service, while 88% of contact center leaders disagree
• 86% of consumers are very likely to switch companies if they experience bad customer service, while 81% of contact center leaders disagree
• 3% of consumers prefer using social media to interact with a representative, while 41% of contact center leaders disagree
• 69% of consumers are willing to pay more for a product or service with a good customer service reputation, 35% of contact center leaders disagree

"There is a discourse when it comes to what the consumer wants and what contact centers believe they want," says Justin Robbins, senior analyst for ICMI. "It is essential that organizations not only take the time to figure out what their customers want, but that they use the correct tools and strategies to do so."

"In what can accurately be described as the 'age of the customer', it is imperative for companies to be in tune with the consumer," stated Paul Jarman, CEO at inContact. "Leading companies meet customers on their terms and are able to do so consistently by providing great customer experiences." 

The report was compiled based on responses to the 2015 survey, "The Contact Centers Perspective on Customer Experience Excellence," distributed by ICMI and inContact. More than 500 responses were collected from executives, directors and managers within the customer management industry.

To learn more about current industry trends and hear from top professionals in the field, register for the 2015 Contact Center Demo &Conference, taking place October 19-21 at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

To request a media pass, please visit: icmi.com/Contact-Center-Demo-Conference/Resources/Media-Center.

About ICMI
The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) is the leading global provider of comprehensive resources for customer management professionals -- from frontline agents to executives -- who wish to improve customer experiences and increase efficiencies at every level of the contact center. Since 1985, ICMI has helped more than 50,000 organizations in 167 countries through training, events, consulting, and informational resources. ICMI's experienced and dedicated team of industry insiders, trainers, and consultants are committed to helping you raise the strategic value of your contact center, optimize your operations and improve your customer service. ICMI is a part of UBM plc (www.ubm.com), a global events-led marketing services and communications company.

About inContact
inContact SAAS is the cloud contact center software leader that makes it easy and affordable for organizations around the globe to create stand-out customer experiences while at the same time meeting their key business metrics. inContact continuously innovates in the cloud and is the only provider to offer a complete cloud customer interaction platform that is purpose built for enterprise and government organizations who operate in multiple divisions, locations and global regions. Named as Market Leader in the 2015 Ovum Decision Matrix and winner of the 2014 CRM Magazine Rising Star Award, inContact has deployed over 2,200 cloud contact center instances. To learn more, visit www.incontact.com.

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SOURCE International Customer Management Institute (ICMI)