Singapore – Singaporeans spent more than 30 million hours on hold to address a customer service complaint or issue, according to new research, by digital workflow company ServiceNow.
Data from the research suggests that the average person in Singapore spent approximately two full working days (equivalent to 16.1 hours) on hold last year equivalent to a staggering loss of S$1.24 billion in wages nationwide.
According to the study, 34% of Singaporeans are having to resolve issues by themselves because of poor service, with their top frustrations including having to repeat their issues to multiple people/departments (60%), being transferred to multiple people or departments (53%), and the relentless wait on hold (42%).
With this in mind, respondents believe the nation is ‘stuck on hold’ due to staff not having any power to make decisions/resolve issue (52%), lack of ownership and responsibility between different departments (48%), inefficient communications within the organisations (48%), customer service departments being understaffed or overwhelmed (47%), and customer service staff not listening to the customer (40%).
72% of Singaporeans have even less patience with bad service because of inflated costs; with a similar number of locals (70%) thinking that customer service is getting worse because companies are cutting costs. 70% of Singaporeans also reported encountering service disruptions from key providers. On average, each Singaporean experienced two disruptions each year.
Furthermore, 1 in 3 respondents believe that the time they spent on hold in 2023 is an increase from the previous year; almost 1 in 2 respondents (43%) believe the time it takes to resolve an issue has also increased. 43% of Singaporeans say their expectations of an organisation’s customer service department has increased in 2023.
Notably, the research also compared generational service experiences, revealing signs of a digital divide in customer service quality. Baby Boomers were left waiting the longest for service in Singapore, in 2023, spending an average of 5.7 days for their issue to be resolved. For younger generations, it takes around 2 days less on average to have their issues resolved.
When asked about the quality of customer service that they want to be provided with, the respondents cited that exemplary customer service for them is having the issue resolved quickly (67%), getting through to someone quickly by phone, chat or in person (52%), having an empathetic customer service agent who cares (47%), being able to track progress (46%), and a customer service agent knowing all your service details/interaction history (42%).
Talking about these results, Wee Luen Chia, managing director at ServiceNow Asia, said, “A better customer experience starts with clearer visibility of where and why processes are currently letting customers down. Only then can organisations invest in improving operations, to consolidate, augment, or replace the service gaps. Instead of betting on quick-fix solutions, customer experience requires a long-term commitment to building service roadmaps to progressively meet and even exceed Singaporeans’ evolving expectations.”
“To break this downward spiral and earn back trust, customer service needs to enable the service teams to do their best work. Routing the right people to the right process, at the right time will solve the customer’s issue fast – this is where automation and AI technologies can deliver their best work in the service of employees and also for customers,” he added.
