Survey Determines that Friendly Accents Enhance Customer Trust
When customers call a business, they invariably notice when they’ve reached a person with a distinctive accent – whether it’s from a foreign country or a region of the United States. It’s very important that the accent not be a turn-off to callers, according to research by Answering Service Care, and it’s absolutely crucial that the accent doesn’t derail communication.
Since 1974, Answering Service Care has offered live 24/7 call-handling services for franchises and other small to medium-size businesses. Answering Service Care tailors its communication to each of its client businesses and ensures all incoming customer phone calls, online chats and texts are effectively dealt with at any time necessary, during and after regular business hours as well as on holidays and weekends.
Survey on Accents
To analyze how Americans perceive accents, Answering Service Care commissioned Censuswide to conduct a nationwide survey of 2,002 Americans age 18 and older. The survey explored which regional and international accents Americans find the most friendly, trustworthy and persuasive. It also evaluated how the accents influence customer service interactions and business opportunities.
“Accents shape first impressions and trust,” says Logan Shooster, vice president of strategic growth for Answering Service Care. “In our survey, 88% of respondents said that miscommunication tied to accents causes frustration for them. On the flip side, 35% feel less stressed when they hear a familiar regional voice. This demonstrates that the right accent – or simply clear, empathetic speech – can calm callers instantly. Twenty-nine percent of our survey respondents told us that a pleasant accent boosts trust and the likelihood that they would later recommend the business.”
So what constitutes pleasantness? To a certain extent, the answer lies in the ear of the caller. “Thirty-seven percent of the survey respondents gave Southern accents [associated with Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas] high marks for friendliness. Hawaiian accents came in second, with 34% of respondents praising those; strictly-Texas accents were viewed favorably by 31%.
A caller’s pride in his or her regional accent can also hold sway, with 23% of respondents preferring to interact with a customer service agent whose accent is similar to theirs. Vermont residents won the accent-pride category, with a 67% of thumbs going up. Second was New Mexicans, with 57% expressing fondness for their state’s accent; Kentucky was right behind, at 56%. International allure can also captivate, with Italian, French and Australian accents leading in terms of attractiveness and charm.
Impact on Customer Service
All of these responses figure into customer service. According to Accenture, a global company that specializes in management consulting, technology services and outsourcing, an eye-opening 87% of people whom it surveyed said they were likely to avoid a company after just one bad customer service experience. Accenture reported that only 18% of respondents credited technology with significantly improving their experiences.
Franchises should take note. Service represents the lifeblood of customer-facing businesses, and effective communication – regardless of accent – is vital. After all, a business’s personnel must fully understand customers’ expectations in order to meet them. The late Jim Rohn, renowned entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker said: “If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles.”
That’s Answering Service Care’s forte, Shooster says. “To maintain the brand’s high communication standards, we do real-time quality monitoring on calls, auditing a percentage of calls every week. We have 24/7 bilingual services, and our staff has been coached on appropriate pacing and a clear, concise vocabulary.” Answering Service Care staffers also are knowledgeable about the client’s industry – no floundering or guessing – and “they have dynamic scripts that adapt to callers’ cues.”
In addition, Shooster says “Answering Service Care personnel are trained to always put the customer first.” Nevertheless, human communication is never perfect. “If an issue arises, we have quick paths for escalating solutions that will meet callers’ needs.”
Other Advantages of Answering Service Care
For more than five decades, the Shooster family’s Answering Service Care has handled calls so that businesses – especially home service franchises – can maximize opportunities to please and add customers. Even in this era of artificial intelligence, Shooster says 80% of customers still prefer human interaction like his company’s virtual receptionist services. Business owners and managers love Answering Service Care, too, he says, for ensuring that every customer call or other contact receives a courteous, clear and professional response.
For further information, visit the Answering Service Care website, which contains an article presenting further survey insights about the power of accents.
