Key Findings

As part of Qualtrics XM Institute’s 2024 Global Consumer Study, more than 23,000 consumers around the world evaluated their satisfaction with elements of their most recent contact center experience and shared how likely they were to exhibit key loyalty behaviors (likelihood to purchase more, trust, and recommend) after their experience. From both our analysis and the results of our 2022 Global Consumer Study, we found that:

Consumers are least satisfied with the time to wait. Globally, 55% of consumers are satisfied with the amount of time they waited during their recent contact center experience. This rate has improved slightly from 2022 (+2 pts), however still remains the weakest component of the contact center experience that we measured. Satisfaction with time to wait is highest in China (78%) and lowest in South Korea (38%.)
Overall satisfaction with contact centers has not changed from 2022. Consumer satisfaction with their overall contact center experience has not changed significantly from 2022 and remains at 63%. Contact center satisfaction is highest among Chinese consumers (82%) and lowest among Japanese consumers (49%.) Satisfaction has changed the most in the UAE, where consumers report a 14 point decrease based on their recent contact center experience.
Under 2 in 3 issues are resolved in the first call. Sixty-two percent of consumers report that their issue was resolved the first time they contacted the customer service department. Indian consumers report the highest first call resolution rate (83%), while South Korean consumers report the lowest first call resolution rate, of just 1 in 4 interactions.
It’s not always easy to connect to a real person. Across all contact center interactions not solely involving a chatbot, consumers report that it was easy to connect to a person during the interaction 64% of the time.
Satisfaction with the contact center experience impacts customer loyalty. When consumers’ issues are resolved on the first try versus when they are not, they are 1.9x more likely to purchase more and trust a brand and are 2.1x more likely to recommend that brand to friends and family. The impact is even greater when consumers are satisfied with their time to wait – consumers are 2.6x more likely to purchase more and trust, and 3x more likely to recommend compared to when they are not satisfied.