Four Revealing Insights into the Customer Support Industry for 2016

Revealing insights into the customer support industry for 2016 custserv

About the survey Until now, little research has been done on the state of the customer support profession. For the ﬁrst time ever, we worked with the industry to survey more than 110 anonymous respondents to to give them deeper insight into their industry. Read on to learn more about the trends affecting the industry, including salary, tenure, job satisfaction and challenges. Customer Support Manager Customer Support Agent Customer Support Director Other VP of Customer Support 1 2 3 4 5 43/37% 36/31% 18/16% 14/12% 5/4% custserv

Read on for our four main ﬁndings About the survey See the full report! Kayako’s 2016 Customer Support: State of the Profession Report learn.kayako.com/state-of-the-profession-2016 custserv

Tenure Most customer support professionals (41%) have worked at their current company for 1-3 years. custserv

Team size The most common size for a customer support team is 6-25 employees (36%), with the least common being single-employee support teams (8%). custserv

Challenges Managing time and workload was reported as the biggest issue faced in customer support, with 63% respondents saying they ﬁnd this challenging or very challenging. custserv

Job satisfaction Most respondents (67%) reported feeling satisfied or very satisfied in their jobs, though when asked how satisfied they felt when they first started their jobs, this number was higher (77%). custserv

custserv $0 VPofCustomerSupport CustomerSupport Manager CustomerSupportDirector Customer SupportAgent Other $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 Meansalary(USD) Job Title $96,000 $76,667 $53,605 $48,972 $64,071 Salary Customer Support Agent - $45-60k Customer Support Manager - $45-60k Customer Support Director - $75-90k VP of Customer Support - $105k + Median compensation ranges are as follows (in US Dollars):

Customer Support Managers salaries range from Why are Customer Support Manager salaries so varied? For a full breakdown on customer support salaries, read the full report [learn.kayako.com/state-of-the-profession-2016] custserv $30k $105k+

New facts about the customer support industry 1. Burnout is a real issue across the support industry 2. Support professionals prioritise customer happiness above revenue 3. Delivering customer happiness is easy - “delight” is unnecessary 4. Reducing customer effort and multichannel support are the future custserv

custserv 1. Burnout is a real issue across the industry

custserv 0 very unsatisfied very satisfied very unsatisfied very satisfied 2 3 4 10 20 30 40 50 Numberofresponses Level of job satisfaction when first started job 0 2 3 4 Current level of job satisfaction Customer support professionals are 6.8% less satisfied now than they were when they first started their jobs. 1. Burnout is a real issue across the industry

custserv Meansalary(USD) $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 2 3 4Very unsatisfied Current level of job satisfaction Very satisfied This graph shows mean job satisfaction compared with mean salary, by job title. VP of Customer Support Customer Support Manager Customer Support Director Customer Support Agent Other Job titles It takes about $10,000 per annum to boost a customer support professional’s job satisfaction from satisfied to very satisfied. 1. Burnout is a real issue across the industry

custserv 73% of customer support professionals ﬁnd managing time and workload their biggest challenge. 1. Burnout is a real issue across the industry This graph shows the number of responses for degree of challenge across all roles. 0 Not challenging at all 2 3 4 10 20 30 40 Numberofresponses Managing time and workload Very challenging

1. Burnout is a real issue across the industry 45% of customer support professionals found maintaining and improving team morale challenging or very challenging custserv This graph shows the number of responses for degree of challenge of across all roles. 0 Not challenging at all 2 3 4 10 20 30 40 Numberofresponses Maintaining / improving team morale Very challenging

custserv 2. Support professionals prioritise customer happiness above revenue

custserv 2. Support professionals prioritise customer happiness above revenue 0 Not a priority 2 3 4 10 20 30 40 Numberofresponses Handling customer enquiries Very important This graph shows the number of responses for degree of priority across all roles. 95% of support professionals say handling customer enquiries is top priority

2. Support professionals prioritise customer happiness above revenue 40% of support professionals say upselling/cross selling is not a priority custserv 0 Not a priority 2 3 4 10 20 30 40 50 Numberofresponses Upselling / cross-selling Very important This graph shows the number of responses for degree of priority across all roles.

custserv 3. Delivering customer happiness is easy - “delight” is unnecessary

3. Delivering customer happiness is easy - “delight” is unnecessary Say delivering customer happiness is not particularly challenging or not challenging at all 41% custserv

3. Delivering customer happiness is easy - “delight” is unnecessary AND: For agents, delivering customer happiness is the least challenging part of their job Say delivering customer happiness is not particularly challenging or not challenging at all 41% custserv

3. Delivering customer happiness is easy - “delight” is unnecessary AND: For agents, delivering customer happiness is the least challenging part of their job BUT: Delivering customer happiness becomes harder the more senior the support role Say delivering customer happiness is not particularly challenging or not challenging at all 41% custserv

3. Delivering customer happiness is easy - “delight” is unnecessary VP of Customer Support Customer Support Manager Customer Support Director Customer Support Agent 1 2 3 4 Not a priority Very important “Howimportantarethefollowing outcomes?” Collecting customer feedback Handling customer enquiries Onboarding new customers Reducing customer churn Upselling / cross selling Collecting customer feedback is high priority for all customer service professionals. custserv

custserv 4. Reducing customer effort and multichannel support are the future

custserv Agents and managers ﬁnd multichannel customer help and making things easier for the customer one of the least challenging parts of their job. 4. Reducing customer effort and multichannel support are the future We asked respondents to evaluate how challenging they found seven aspects of their jobs. The graph shows mean responses for each question by each role. VP of Customer Support Customer Support Manager Customer Support Director Customer Support Agent 1 2 3 4 Not challenging at all Very challenging “Howmuchofachallengearethe followingissuesforyourteam?” Managing time and workload Making things easier for the customers Delivering customer happiness Helping customers on multiple channels Maintaining/improving team morale Recruiting and retaining qualiﬁed agents Managing SLAs and workload

custserv 4. Reducing customer effort and multichannel support are the future Agents and managers ﬁnd multichannel customer help and making things easier for the customer one of the least challenging parts of their job. BUT: For Customer Support Directors and VPs, these are notable challenges. We asked respondents to evaluate how challenging they found seven aspects of their jobs. The graph shows mean responses for each question by each role. VP of Customer Support Customer Support Manager Customer Support Director Customer Support Agent 1 2 3 4 Not challenging at all Very challenging “Howmuchofachallengearethe followingissuesforyourteam?” Managing time and workload Making things easier for the customers Delivering customer happiness Helping customers on multiple channels Maintaining/improving team morale Recruiting and retaining qualiﬁed agents Managing SLAs and workload

Support leaders are more concerned with developing and implementing processes that deliver delight at scale. As these methods roll out across support teams, and are likely to become a signiﬁcant challenge for Customer Support Managers in the near future. 4. Reducing customer effort and multichannel support are the future custserv

4. Reducing customer effort and multichannel support are the future Priorities of Agents compared to VPs: Priorities 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Agents Recruiting and retaining qualiﬁed agents Managing time and workload Managing SLAs and workload Maintaining/improving team morale Making things easier for the customers Helping customers on multiple channels Delivering customer happiness VPs Managing SLAs and workload Managing time and workload Delivering customer happiness Helping customers on multiple channels Making things easier for the customers Recruiting and retainingqualiﬁed agents Maintaining/improving team morale custserv

Need more? Get the full insight! Download the free report: Kayako’s 2016 Customer Support: State of the Profession Report learn.kayako.com/state-of-the-profession-2016 custserv

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