Geordie accent rated UK’s most friendly and trustworthy
Call centre survey finds North Easterners’ voices are most likely to put you in a good mood
A survey by call centre outsourcing vendor Sitel of more than 2,000 people across the UK, found that the Geordie accent is considered the friendliest in the UK, and is also the most likely to put you in a ‘good mood,’ according to respondents.
Geordie also ranked amongst the top five accents in the categories of trustworthy, helpful and efficient, traits respondents cited as important when speaking to a call centre representative.
The survey also found that situations in which customers were not able to speak to a representative were most annoying to respondents when dealing with a call centre, indicating that personal contact is critical to customer satisfaction. According to the study, women cited being trapped in automated self service as their biggest grievance (28% of women), whilst men pointed to long holding times (30% of men). Being passed from person to person also ranked highly amongst respondents’ call centre complaints (22% of women; 20% of men).
“For many organisations, the contact centre is the most frequent channel of communication with their customers, so it is important that representatives not only act as an extension of your brand but that they provide your customers with a positive feeling about your company,” said Tim Schuh, general manager, North EMEA, Sitel. “This study underscores the need to find the balance between cost-efficiency and personal connection because customers place a high value on direct contact with representatives.”