Taylor Swift and Margot Robbie named as the voices most Southampton people would like to hear when they call a contact centre
People are also willing to pay for faster response times so they spend less time on hold
8×8 have revealed the top celebrity voices that people would like to hear when they call a contact centre – and how much people would pay to avoid being on hold.
The survey showed that while Taylor Swift and Margot Robbie cross genders and age groups, there’s a wide range of celebrities that people would like to ‘hear’ from with some willing to pay for it in order to have a better customer experience. Where survey respondents were more aligned was in agreement and willingness to pay to avoid being on hold.
The results come ahead of CX South 2024, Southampton’s first-ever conference dedicated to Customer Experience, taking place at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton, on June 26.
A Swift Victory
When different age groups were asked which voice they would like to hear from an AI chatbot or from a call centre person, Taylor Swift was a clear winner in every category, with a strong variety of results for the rest:
Males Under 30
Margot Robbie – • David Beckham – Taylor Swift – Ryan Reynolds – Donald Trump
Females Under 30
Charli D’Amelio – Billie Eilish – Zendaya – Kylie Jenner – Taylor Swift
Males Over 30
Will Smith – • Taylor Swift – Eminem – Ryan Reynolds – Margot Robbie
Females Over 30
Taylor Swift – Joe Wicks – Jacqueline Jossa – Beyonce – Zac Efron
Paying For Benefits – And Quicker Service
When survey respondents were asked if they would pay extra for the celebrity/influencer voice option, 28% said that they would pay – but no more than £1 a month. Where more people said they would pay for extra was to have their waiting time on calls cut.
When asked ‘how much would you pay to have your calls always answered and dealt with in under two minutes’ the replies were as follow:
• Wouldn’t pay – 38%
• Up to £1 a month – 45%
• More than £1 but less than £3 per month – 12%
• Between £3 and £5 – 5%
Various surveys over the past few years have shown that the average waiting time for a person is between two minutes and 35 minutes, depending on the industry.
The findings also come not long after The Institute of Customer Service’s UK Customer Satisfaction Index analysed customer satisfaction metrics across 281 companies in the UK and revealed that consumer satisfaction has plunged to an eight-year low.
People Want Solutions and Speed in their Service.
Chris Angus, VP Contact Centre Engagement for 8×8 said:
“While I’m gutted not to be chosen as a voice that people would want to hear, there are some interesting findings here. The message across all of this is that people want to engage and have their problems solved. If doing it with celebrity voices is a way of having people engage, then perhaps companies should look into it – though licensing the voices would be an interesting challenge.
“The other aspect here that shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed is that more than half of the people who answered would pay for a fast-track service. On the one hand this shows a potential revenue stream, but it also screams out that in 2024 every industry needs to be doing better to solve customer queries more quickly and efficiently. In an age of chatbots, voice assistants and other tools, we can all do better.”
Conference
The CX South 2024 Conference will cover a number of customer experience-related themes, including the use of AI and automation to improve customer satisfaction, how AI may mean having more humans in a contact centre instead of less, and a session by cybersecurity influencer Jake Moore.
8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is transforming the future of business communications as a leading Software as a Service provider of 8×8 XCaaS™ (Experience Communications as a Service™), an integrated contact centre, voice communications, video, chat, and SMS solution built on one global cloud communications platform. 8×8 uniquely eliminates the silos between Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) to power the communications requirements of all employees globally as they work together to deliver differentiated customer experiences. For additional information, visit www.8×8.com, or follow 8×8 on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
The survey was carried out through a mixture of online channels between Saturday, June 8 and Sunday June 16 targeting Southampton and the surrounding area. More than 2,400 people responded. Celebrity/Influencer names were chosen from a pre-offered list of 100 people.
