A national customer service problem: Please hold Speed Top customer frustrations Time is money Make or break ServiceNow's Customer Experience Intelligence Report (CXI) found that people are stuck on hold, as wait times have increased for the third year running. Read on to learn why customers are switching brands, and what you can do to keep your customers happy in 2024. Time on hold has increased by 11% to 107 million hours in Australia and over 22 million hours in New Zealand. Because costs are rising, customers have less patience with bad service, up 10% from last year. What customers want 2 in 3 customers say that speed is the number one priority for good service. More than half of customers say they will take their business elsewhere after 2-3 days. Against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, leaders must rebuild trust with good service, or customers will leave. Waiting on hold during work hours cost Australia $1.28bn in lost productivity, and New Zealand NZD $168m. Having to repeat my issue/complaint to multiple people 55 % Waiting on hold 46% Being transferred to multiple people 39 % Waiting in line 37 % 64% are concerned AI will reduce empathy 94% are changing spending behaviour 58% leaving in 2-3 days Wait and leave It's taking organisations an overage of one work week to resolve issues in Australia, and 5.9 days in New Zealand. Over 3 in 5 see improved speed and efficiency as one of the top benefits AI will bring to customer service. days Accessibility The wrong help Lost productivity Round the clock service, with AI The vast majority of people are forced to waste time on hold to customer service during work hours because 24/7 support is not widely available. People doing it tough Customers are making tough choices due to cost-of-living pressures, they are spending less, searching for special offers and switching brands. Be a good listener Customers want to be seen and heard. More than half (53%) say empathetic agents deliver the best service. The human touch Organisations can't eliminate a human touch. Two thirds are worried AI will reduce human connection. Nearly three quarters ranked after hours customer service as one of the top three benefits that AI will bring. Empathy Untangle the Messy Middle with the intelligent ServiceNow platform and deliver fast, accessible, and empathetic services that customers demand. 02 Enable self-service across channels and automate issue resolution. 03 Empower employees with real-time information and intelligent guidance. 01 Streamline operations across the front, middle, and back offices. Even when customers do get through, it's often the people and teams who do not have the ability to fix the issue. Nearly half (49%) experience inefficient communication when dealing with organisations. Download full report Explore CX solutions How to jump the queue in 2024. 1 in 3 are losing trust in customer service $1.3 billion cost to our economy No connection. No coordination. No quick resolutions. Customers are shouting ‘no more’. 1 in 3 believe providing more information, context or solutions to human agents will be the key benefit of AI. 4 in 5 customers are losing patience with bad service Three things are loud and clear – people want service that is fast, accessible, and empathetic. 129 million hours on hold A similar proportion (45%) see a lack of ownership between different departments. 82% get stuck on hold at work 71% are excited about 24/7 service powered by AI AI can help 64% say AI will improve speed 66% say speed is number 1 to resolve issues Customers and agents are getting lost in the ‘messy middle’ When we spoke to CX leaders and employees: The customers we spoke to say: IT CRM HR Finance Operations The Messy Middle 44% 37% 48% 46% 50% 40% Lack of ownership between departments causes bad service. Inefficient communication in the organisation is to blame. Staff have no power to make decisions or solve issues. Said their organisation is using five or more systems. Said communicating with other departments is the biggest hold-up. Claim department silos are the problem. 5.3