26 Pct Of Global Population Posts Bad Experiences With Firms On Social Media

By Farhana Poniman KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- The world's population is increasingly incorporating social media in their daily lives with 26 per cent of them posting bad experiences with an organisation online. Cloud and mobile services provider, LogMeIn Asia-Pacific Vice-President Andy Farquharson said this evolving customer experience was both a huge challenge and opportunity for businesses. "However, even with the population posting their negative comments on social media, 79 per cent of those comments are ignored by companies. "Most companies respond to these negative feedbacks by ignoring them, letting them play out or have their own advocate to go in to defend themselves," he told Bernama at the fourth Annual Contact Centres Asia Summit 2013 here Tuesday. The event, co-hosted by the Contact Centres Association of Malaysia (CCAM) and the International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC), aimed to provide a platform for industry players to derive experiences from successful contact centre operations and technology. Farquharson noted that while good customer experience could drive millions in revenue, 86 per cent of the population would stop doing business with an organisation after one bad experience. "The most pragmatic approach is to contact that person directly and take the conversation offline," he added. Meanwhile, COPC Inc Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Officer Ian Aitchison said the region's contact centre industry is very big, with more than three million workers, mostly in China and the Philippines. "Malaysia is a mid-priced destination for offshoring and it has a pretty strong domestic contact centre, with about 200-400 centres scattered around Cyberjaya, Penang and the Klang Valley," he said. In 2010, the region recorded an 8.5 per cent growth in contact centre agent seats and it is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 9.5 per cent by 2017. "This growth will be driven by the region's healthy economy. With more people joining the middle-income class, there will be an increased penetration of new technology and consumer products which will require more support from the industry," he added. -- BERNAMA