‘Call centres need to focus on quality’

CUSTOMER engagement fell by more than 90% for some industries during lockdown, according to cloud communications provider Content Guru.

The Bracknell-based business conducted research using a comparison of 44 million customer service calls before and during lockdown across 13 industry sectors.

And every industry saw customer engagement fall in April, with transport, hospitality and distribution the most impacted.

Despite falling by 81% during lockdown, customer call volumes for estate agents re-bounded in May, with an increase in excess of 200% compared to April’s low.

The supermarket retail sector avoided the immediate blow, with contact volumes surging by 115% between January and March, before dropping back in May and June to sit 28% below inquiries in January.

The public sector saw engagement growth with call volumes 19% higher in June than January.

Deputy CEO and co-founder at Content Guru Martin Taylor said: “This data offers stark insight into the severity of Covid-19 lockdown on customer engagement across some of the biggest and most important sectors of the economy.

“2020 has been a period of great change and this data shows the enormous pressure many contact centres have been under to rethink how they are engaging with customers.

“We’re now seeing signs that recoverymomentum is growing, evidenced by activity in industries where customer call volume is returning to near normal levels or even setting new highs for the year to date.

“Organisations need to focus on the quality of their customer experience and ensure their contact centres have the ability to support an increasing number of calls.”