Nothing really totally new here, but it's well worth being reminded of what customers really want!

"When it comes to picking or sticking with a provider, consumers value service quality more than any other factor, according to the results of the third annual Accenture Global Customer Satisfaction Survey."

The key findings are that consumers report being satisfied or very satisfied with:

1. in-person service 59%


2. e-mail 44%


3. phone 43%


4. live online chat 30%


5. automated phone 16%

Consumers want the following:

1. ability to assist me now rather than forwarding me to someone else 43%


2. amount of time to resolve my problem 28%


3. quality of response 27%


4. customer service agent's manner and approach 23%


5. speed of response 22%

The research also says that ".......overall, service outweighs price by 20 percent as a reason for switching" and"......nearly 60 percent of respondents say that customer service is the key differentiating factor when choosing a new provider—ahead of price (55 percent), product (34 percent) and convenience (34 percent)."