• Report shows call center to be a lifeline for consumers looking for Covid-19 vaccine support, travel, online shopping and more in 2021.
• The customer care center has not yet caught up with customer expectations.
• Vietnamese and Indians trust agents when sharing their personal information; Singaporeans are less trusting.
• 34% of Vietnamese consumers are disappointed with the long wait when calling the call center.

On March 18, Uniphore announced the results of their survey during the Covid-19 period with a focus on the challenges faced by consumers and call centers, including: consumer frustration and missed opportunities for brands to deliver better experiences in building trust and loyalty. The report also shows that consumers have high expectations on the experience aspect, and they also feel comfortable when new technology works with people to serve them.

The call center helps strengthen consumer trust and is becoming increasingly important as an opportunity to build customer connections. However, 35% of consumers feel angry and annoyed when calling the switchboard due to the long wait; 51% of respondents in Vietnam said they waited more than 30 minutes to be served by the call center staff. In addition, 9% of Vietnamese consumers said the problem was not resolved on the first call.

Ravi Saraogi, Co-Founder and President of Uniphore Asia Pacific shared: “The Customer Care Center is a lifesaver to support important issues from healthcare, travel to commerce, and is one of the most effective ways that brands build customer loyalty. However, many customers still feel undervalued, while agents feel overwhelmed and lack support tools. We have the ability to change this and empower agents with technology, helping them empathize with customers and provide optimal solutions and support for each customer.”

Nearly a year after the pandemic, organizations across Asia Pacific have transitioned to remote working. This causes businesses to turn to chatbots, automatic answering systems (IVR) and social media channels to communicate with consumers.

However, the survey shows that consumers still prefer talking to personal directly. Only 33% of Vietnamese people prefer to chat with a chatbot on their first interaction, of which only 7% said they would contact a company through a social network.

About 75% of Vietnamese consumers (the highest percentage in Asia-Pacific countries) said they trust a customer care personal when sharing personal information. The country with the least trust in agents is Singapore (37%).

The survey results also noted that more and more people are relying on automation to improve their experience with a company. 41% of Vietnamese after contacting the call center expect to be called back by the company to inquire, while 53% prefer to use email.

Interestingly, nearly 3 out of 4 Vietnamese feel comfortable if companies use AI to improve customer experience, especially if the technology supports call center agents; while this figure in Malaysia is 43%, Indonesia is 41%, and Singapore is 21%.

This survey, completed by Uniphore in January 2021, was conducted online and randomly sampled 1,210 adults from across Japan and Asia-Pacific representing age groups 18 to 65. Results are weighted to represent the population.