Consumers’ biggest frustrations with their banks and insurance providers lie in the contact centre.

And according to new research from customer contact software supplier Aspect, this is affecting cross-selling and upselling opportunities and resulting in loss of customers. The company's study asked a sample of people in the UK about their attitudes towards their banks and insurance providers. When asked how satisfied they were with the customer service received, specifically from the contact centre, 48 per cent claimed to be dissatisfied. Sixty six per cent considered moving to another insurance provider in the last 12 months, and 43 per cent considered changing banks. Of these, 42 per cent actually did move to another insurer, but only eight per cent moved their accounts to another bank. The research also found that a third of people in the UK are unhappy with the customer service they receive as a whole from their banks and insurance providers.

“Cross-selling and upselling to existing customers is a critical revenue stream for banks and insurers but our research demonstrates that these institutions are losing a high percentage of accounts and policies every year,” comments Peter Nicol, VP, Northern Europe, Aspect. “A proportion of consumers are clearly getting frustrated with their financial services providers due to the quality of service they receive through the contact centre.”

When the respondents were asked what bothers them the most with their insurance providers’ customer service, ‘call centre staff unable to perform necessary transactions,’ ‘do not return calls’ and ‘takes too long to answer the phone’ all came out on top. Consumers’ expectations for both their banks and their insurance providers is a high level of customer service, with a third (33 per cent) stating this factor above the range of products, security and varied channels of communication. The standard of customer service is also the highest influencing factor (28 per cent) when choosing a bank. This differs with insurance providers, where 46 per cent regard product specifications as the most important influencing factor when choosing a provider.

Other key findings include: the biggest bugbear with banks is that security and authentication systems are too complicated or inconsistent, with 18 per cent stating this as an irritation; Instant messaging (IM)/chat, SMS and social media are not considered by consumers to be main methods of communication yet, although six per cent expect to be able to connect with financial services providers through IM/chat, seven per cent through SMS and four per cent through social media; Consumers’ main method in which to connect with their bank is through online banking apps, with 77 per cent stating they use this method; The main method in which to connect with their insurance provider is via the telephone, with 45 per cent stating they do so.

To see the full report, click here: http://www.pages05.net/aspect/FinanceCamp_CustPaper/?ref=PRCP48354948

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