Top Pain Points in Customer Service

Source: Forrester survey of 5000 consumers

Key Customer Service Pain Points: INDUSTRY DATA

1. What are the biggest pain points that customers face when contacting a company for customer service?

  • Customer service agents do not know the answer 34%
  • Different agents give different answers 41%
  • Can’t find answer on website 31%
  • Other factors 17%

Biggest pain points customers face when they contact a company for customer service

2. The percentage of respondents who cited an issue as a top pain point, by industry

Consistency of answers

  • Worst performer: Government (56%)
  • Best performer: Online retail (33%)

Agents not knowing the answer

  • Worst performer: Offline retail and technology (47%)
  • Best performer: Property, casualty, and life insurance (25%)

Findability of answers on website

  • Worst performer: Online retail (40%)
  • Best performer: Technology (27%)

Younger consumers are less forgiving of agents that are not knowledgeable

  • 40% for Gen Y did not find agents to be knowledgeable vs. only 23% for seniors
  • Only 9% of Gen Y consumers found non-knowledge issues as the main roadblock to service vs. 35% of seniors

Download report of the findings


Key Customer Service Pain Points: GENERATIONAL DATA

What was the biggest pain point when you contacted a company for customer service? (Select up to 2 answers)

Customer service pain points of Gen Y in Forrester survey

Gen Y, aged 18-34: The biggest pain points in getting customer service

Different agents give different answers 48%
Customer service agents do not know the answer 40%
Can’t find answer on website 31%
Other factors 9%

Gen X, aged 35-48: The biggest pain points in getting customer service

Different agents give different answers 43%
Customer service agents do not know the answer 39%
Can’t find answer on website 32%
Other factors 11%

Young boomers, aged 49-58: The biggest pain points in getting customer service

Different agents give different answers 37%
Customer service agents do not know the answer 26%
Can’t find answer on website 35%
Other factors 21%

Older boomers, aged 59-67: The biggest pain points in getting customer service

Different agents give different answers 33%
Customer service agents do not know the answer 24%
Can’t find answer on website 28%
Other factors 32%

Seniors, aged 68+: The biggest pain points in getting customer service

Different agents give different answers 27%
Customer service agents do not know the answer 23%
Can’t find answer on website 28%
Other factors 35%

Download report of the findings

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