Apple Leads in Call Satisfaction, Despite Decline in Problem Resolution and IVR

The latest study on phone-based customer service quality conducted by Vocal Laboratories Inc. puts Apple ahead of Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) in customer satisfaction with technical support.

The National Customer Service Survey (NCSS) compared customer service quality for the Apple, Dell and HP based on 2,166 interviews conducted between July 2009 and December 2010.

Although Apple did see a decline in problem resolution rates and IVR satisfaction in the second half of 2010, according to the latest Vocalabs study, the Mac maker still leads Dell and HP in customer satisfaction with technical support.

The best indication comes from the 60% of Apple customers who said their problem was resolved on the call.

The result was “extracted” from telephone interviews conducted immediately following a tech support call. The figure is still down 7 percentage points from the first half of the year, according to Vocalabs.

According to the analytics company, satisfaction with the automated portion of the tech support call also declined among Apple customers.

This was measured by the “nuisance factor” - the percentage of customers who experienced any of three common service problems.

Some 35% of Apple customers interviewed in the second half of 2010 experienced IVR (Interactive Voice Response) problems, irrelevant or repetitive steps, or difficulty reaching an agent, up from 21% in 2H 2009, Vocalabs said.

Competition, however, improved IVR performance, with fewer customers complaining of service problems. This is the case of Dell.

For its part, HP saw a 7 percentage point improvement in IVR satisfaction in 2H 2010, and sustained gains made in problem resolution in the first half of the year, according to the study.

“While Apple's customer service lead over Dell and HP narrowed in the second half of 2010, its customers remain the most satisfied among those surveyed,” Vocalabs said.

“Sixty-six percent of Apple customers said they were ‘Very Satisfied’ with the call, compared to 51% of HP customers and 49% of Dell customers,” the analysts at Vocal Laboratories Inc. concluded.