Customer service just isn’t cutting it in Australia. As few as one in 10 Aussies surveyed in a recent Ipsos customer satisfaction report said they were ‘very satisfied’ with their power, gas and water utilities and two in every 10 Australians were ‘very dissatisfied’ with their telecommunications and utility providers.

Only one in five participants were ‘very satisfied’ with the service they received from the financial services, telecommunications, retail and hotel and travel industries.

The customer service issues Australians face varies across industries. A higher proportion of people experience customer service failures with telecommunications companies, and the most common issues included taking too long to do what is asked (experienced by 31% of people), having to chase for updates (24%), account errors (25%), and unknowledgeable and rude or unhelpful staff (19%).

One in five Australians have also experienced account errors with our power, gas or water utilities companies.

Staff accounted for the majority of customer service failures with retailers, around one fifth of people reported experiencing unknowledgeable and one fifth of us experiencing rude and unhelpful staff.

“Service failures differ across providers, with some providers deliver a better customer experience more often and consistently with fewer service failures than others. Customer service staff can also make a big difference, with Australians reporting a higher level of satisfaction when staff went out of their way to help resolve the issue,” says Ipsos’ loyalty managing director, Gary Martin.

“Companies that can proactively deliver a superior customer experience by listening and acting on the voice of the customer can gain competitive advantage in the market.

“While price clearly influences the decisions Australians make, it is not at the expense of their expectations of service. Just 5% of Australians agree with the statement “price is the only thing that matters to me – service is secondary”, and one fifth completely or somewhat agree with the statement,” he says.

“Having a good service experience is expected and is an important aspect of an organisation’s value proposition.”

About the study: Ipsos interviewed 5816 consumers in six countries including China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Australia and Indonesia. In Australia, 1045 consumers aged 16 and over completed the online survey.