This document summarizes the key findings from a marketing research report on call center services provided by telecommunications companies and banks in Singapore. The research aimed to assess consumer satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement. Key findings include: - Most respondents were dissatisfied with call center operating hours. Consumers preferred 24-hour availability. - Average wait times to speak to a representative were 1-5 minutes for both industries, though banks had slightly shorter waits. - Call resolution times were typically 5-10 minutes for both, indicating room for faster problem solving. - Longer wait times, call transfers, and inability to meet expectations correlated with lower satisfaction levels.

1. Marketing Research
Consumers Association of Singapore
Prepared By:
Audry Chan (S10082077F)
Jean Teo (S10068366G)
Ong Xin Yi (S10077844F)
Pee Kim Tiow (S10064222B)

2. Table of Contents
I. Problem Definition
II. Research Objectives
III. Data Analysis
IV. Cross Tabulations
V. Limitations
VI. Conclusions
VII. Recommendations

3. I. Problem Definition
• Should CASE recommend the various
telecommunications service providers and banks to
improve their call centre services?
Research Problems
• Determine the satisfaction level of consumers with
call centre services provided by
telecommunication service provider and banks.
• Investigate the reasons why consumers are satisfied
or not satisfied.
• Determine what improvements can be made to
increase consumers’ satisfaction level.

4. I. Problem Definition
• How can CASE recommend ways to improve the
services provided by the call centre representatives of
the various telecommunications service providers and
banks?
Research Problems
• Determine how call centre officers of
telecommunication service providers and banks should
conduct themselves.
• Find out whether call centre officers of
telecommunication service providers and banks deliver
the services that they promised.
• Determine the ways that call centre officers of
telecommunication service providers and banks can
improve consumers’ experience.

5. II. Research Objectives
• Find out whether consumers (aged 16 -55) are generally
satisfied with the services provided by telecommunication
service providers and banks.
• Find out what are the consumers’ expectations of
telecommunication service providers and banks.
• Find out the way call centre officers of
telecommunication service providers and banks should
serve the consumers.
• Find out whether consumers prefer to use the service of
call centre of telecommunication service providers and
banks or visit an outlet or branch to solve their problems
and enquiries.
• Compare the services provided by call centre of
telecommunication service providers and banks.

6. III. Data Analysis

7. A3a. Are you satisfied with the operating hours of
the call centres?
18%
22%
82%
78%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Bank
Teleco
Yes
No
Result: Most of the respondents are not
satisfied with the operating hours of both the
telco and bank call centre services

8. A3b. What are the opening hours of call centres?
Know
43%
Don'ʹt
Know
57%
Bank
Know
42%
Don'ʹt
Know
58%
Telco
Result: A large percentage of the
respondents do not know the opening
hours of the call centres.
Implication: Need to educate customer
on the opening hours of call centre

9. A3c. What are the operating hours you would like
to see the call centres operating?
Bank
Teleco
7.80%
6.30%
41.90%
42.80%
50.30%
50.90%
Office hours
Extended Office Hours
24 Hours
Results:
Consumers
prefer call
centre to
operate 24
hours.
Implications: Need to
increase the operating
to 24 hours.

10. Current Operating Hours
Banks
Operating hours
Posb /dbs
9am-­‐‑5.30pm (mon-­‐‑fri)
9am-­‐‑12.30pm (sat, exculding
public holiday)
United Overseas Bank
24 hours
Citi Bank
24 hours
Overseas Chinese Banking
Corporation
8am-­‐‑10pm(excluding public
holidays

11. Current Operating Hours
Telco
Operating hours
Singtel
8am-­‐‑ 12 midnight
M1
24 hours
starhub
24 hours

12.
G2. What other call centre services should be provided
by telecommunication providers and banks?
16
21
19
61
Provide more information on products
Provide more information on services
Improve call centre representatives'ʹ
services
Improve call centres'ʹ services

13. H5. Under what circumstances do you prefer a call
centre to the physical store outlet? Why?
328
49
274
25
89
191
Convenience
Avoid crowd
Simple
enquiries
Before/after
physical
stores'ʹ
operating
hours
Urgency
Time saving
Number of respondents

14. IV. Cross Tabulations
Analysis

15. User’s first approach
• Association between age and first approach
153
167
200
184
45
46
46
59
18
29
18
19
3
7
7
3
16-­‐‑25
26-­‐‑35
36-­‐‑45
46-­‐‑55
Call Centre
Physical Store Outlet
Email
Others

16. User’s expectation
• Association between call transfer and expectation
of bank call centre services
29
21
20
2
12
282
210
64
13
28
8
6
2
0
1
No
Once
Twice
Thrice
More than 3
times
Did not meet expectations
Met expectations
Exceeded expectations

17. User’s expectation
• Association between call transfer and expectation
of telco call centre services
58
32
34
9
27
216
173
86
16
24
16
5
2
1
No
Once
Twice
Thrice
More than 3
times
Did not meet expectations
Met expectations
Exceeded expectations

18. User’s expectation
• Association between waiting time and expectation
of bank call centre services
5
32
28
20
66
342
122
67
2
11
2
5
Less than 1min
1-­‐‑5mins
6-­‐‑10mins
More than
10mins
Did not meet expectations
Met expectations
Exceeded expectations

19. User’s expectation
• Association between waiting time and expectation
of telco call centre services
5
45
46
64
66
259
113
77
9
10
3
5
Less than 1 min
1-­‐‑5 mins
6-­‐‑10 mins
More than 10
mins
Did not meet expectations
Met expectations
Exceeded expectations

20. Comparison of Waiting
Time
10%
11%
55%
45%
22%
23%
13%
21%
Bank
Teleco
Less than 1 min
1 to 5 min
6 to 10 min
more than 10 min
Result: Average waiting time of
both call centre is 1 to 5 min.
Implication: Call centres should
improve on the waiting time of
the call to be less than 5 mins
Comparison: Bank has shorter waiting time.

21. User’s expectations
• Association between time taken for call
representative to solve problem and expectation of
bank call centre services
11
23
19
6
1
8
9
8
108
301
116
26
18
11
14
2
9
7
1
0
0
0
0
0
Did not meet expectations
Met expectations
Exceeded expectations

22. User’s expectations
• Association between time taken for call
representative to solve problem and expectation of
telco call centre services
15
31
32
14
17
12
13
26
93
217
126
27
20
17
12
3
9
10
4
1
1
0
0
0
Did not meet expectations
Met expectations
Exceeded expectations

23. Comparison of Time Taken to
Resolve the Problem
18.3%
16.9%
47.4%
36.8%
19.5%
23.0%
4.6%
6.0%
2.7%
5.4%
2.7%
4.1%
3.3%
3.6%
1.4%
4.1%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
Bank
Teleco
Unresolved
More than 1 day
Next day
More than 30 min
21 to 30 min
11 to 20 min
5 to 10 min
Less than 5 min
Result: Both call centres
take about 5 to 10 min to
resolve problems
Implication: Need to reduce time
taken to solve problem

24. Waiting Time Satisfaction
• Association between hanging up due to long
waiting time and satisfaction with overall waiting
time of bank call centre services
192
262
222
23
Yes
No
Have you ever hung up the phone before speaking to a
call centre representative due to long waiting time?
Satisfied
Unsatisfied

25. Waiting Time Satisfaction
• Association between hanging up due to long
waiting time and satisfaction with overall waiting
time of telco call centre services
203
177
292
29
Yes
No
Have you ever hung up the phone before speaking to a call
centre representative due to long waiting time?
Satsfied
Unsatisfied

26. Waiting Time Satisfaction
• Association between waiting time to speak to call
representative and satisfaction with overall waiting
time of bank call centre services
63
301
70
20
10
84
82
69
Less than 1 min
1-­‐‑5 mins
6-­‐‑10 mins
More than 10
mins
Satisfied
Unsatisfied

27. Waiting Time Satisfaction
• Association between waiting time to speak to call
representative and satisfaction with overall waiting
time of telco call centre services
72
233
61
14
9
80
100
131
Less than 1 min
1-­‐‑5 mins
6-­‐‑10 mins
More than 10
mins
Satisfied
Unsatisfied

28. Waiting Time satisfaction
• Association between satisfaction of overall waiting
time and importance of shorter waiting time to be
connected to representative of bank call centre
services
3
22
111
143
175
1
6
28
73
137
Least
Important
Somewhat
Important
Important
Very
Important
Extremely
Important
Satisfied
Unsatisfied

29. Waiting Time satisfaction
• Association between satisfaction of overall waiting
time and importance of shorter waiting time to be
connected to representative of telco call centre
services
3
23
84
141
125
3
7
34
84
188
Least
Important
Somewhat
Important
Important
Very
Important
Extremely
Important
Satisfied
Unsatisfied

30. Hang up
• Association between hanging up due to long
waiting time for the call transfer and satisfaction of
the waiting time of bank call centre services
90
167
92
27
Yes
No
Have you ever hung up the phone due to long
waiting time for the call transfer?
Satisfied
Unsatisfied

31. Hang up
• Association between hanging up due to long
waiting time for the call transfer and satisfaction of
the waiting time of telco call centre services
100
211
109
37
Yes
No
Have you ever hung up the phone due to long waiting
time for the call transfer?
Satsfied
Unsatisfied

32. Waiting time during transfer before
hanging up
17
39
67
80
17
40
76
89
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Less than
3min
3-­‐‑5min
6-­‐‑10min
more than
10min
Telco
Bank
34
79
143
169

33. Comparison between the satisfaction of
overall waiting time
65%
35%
54%
46%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Yes
No
Bank
Teleco
Result: A large
percentage of the general
public is not satisfied
with the overall waiting
time of the phone call
Implication: Need to
reduce waiting time of
phone call

34. Follow Up Period
• Association between duration taken to complete
follow up and whether follow-up period is
acceptable of bank call centre services
12
29
5
0
0
0
0
7
7
3
3
4
On the day
itself
1-­‐‑2 days
3-­‐‑4 days
5-­‐‑6 days
1 week
More than
1 week
Acceptable
Unacceptable

35. Follow Up Period
• Association between duration taken to complete
follow up and whether follow-up period is
acceptable of telco call centre services
30
21
9
1
1
1
1
10
7
4
6
10
On the day
itself
1-­‐‑2 days
3-­‐‑4 days
5-­‐‑6 days
1 week
More than
1 week
Acceptable
Unacceptable

36. Improvement on call
centre’s services
• Association time take to resolve problem and
importance of improving call centre’s effectiveness
& efficiency on solutions solving of bank call centre
services
0
7
30
43
48
1
7
52
100
171
0
5
25
46
60
2
0
3
9
18
0
1
4
5
9
0
0
3
5
11
0
0
4
5
14
0
0
2
3
5
Least Important
Somewhat
Important
Important
Very Important
Extremely
Important
Less 5 mins
5-­‐‑10 mins
11-­‐‑20 mins
21-­‐‑30 mins
More than 30 mins
Next day
More than 1 day
Unresolved

37. Improvement on call
centre’s services
• Association time take to resolve problem and
importance of improving call centre’s effectiveness
& efficiency on solutions solving of telco call centre
services
3
12
17
41
43
4
13
35
102
103
1
7
27
40
86
0
0
5
18
18
1
2
3
9
21
0
0
3
8
17
0
0
5
4
16
0
0
2
5
22
Least Important
Somewhat
Important
Important
Very Important
Extemely
Important
Less than 5 mins
5-­‐‑10 mins
11-­‐‑20 mins
21-­‐‑30 mins
More than 30 mins
Next day
More than 1 day
Unresolved

38. Overall View of Call Representatives’ Akitude
9.4%
7.4%
7.7%
8.6%
8.0%
11.0%
8.7%
9.2%
61.4%
65.1%
67.4%
64.7%
55.8%
64.2%
64.9%
70.5%
22.9%
24.0%
21.5%
22.6%
30.8%
21.5%
23.7%
18.5%
5.4%
3.1%
3.0%
3.7%
4.9%
2.9%
2.1%
1.4%
0.9%
0.3%
0.4%
0.4%
1.8%
2.0%
1.7%
0.4%
Fluent and
clear
Akentive
Responsive
Patient
Enthusiastic
Professional
Friendly
Courteous
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
8.4%
7.2%
6.7%
7.8%
6.5%
8.2%
8.4%
9.8%
54.1%
55.8%
58.0%
54.4%
47.0%
55.7%
57.4%
59.9%
25.1%
28.8%
27.6%
29.7%
35.5%
26.6%
28.0%
25.0%
9.1%
6.7%
6.8%
6.7%
9.1%
7.5%
4.5%
4.0%
3.3%
1.4%
1.0%
1.4%
1.8%
2.0%
1.7%
1.3%
2.13
2.17
2.27
2.34
2.21
2.39
2.34
2.53
2.23
2.39
2.21
2.37
2.24
2.39
2.27
2.45
Bank (2.23)
Telco (2.39)
Mean
Mean
The lower the mean
score, the more
favourable it is.
Comparison: The akitude of bank call
centre representatives are beker than telco.
Implication: Telco call
centre need to improve
akitude of rep.

39. Overall View of Product/Service Knowledge
6.1%
7.8%
6.7%
6.3%
59.9%
61.6%
62.2%
62.4%
23.3%
21.4%
23.2%
22.3%
8.5%
7.4%
7.0%
7.0%
2.1%
1.7%
1.0%
2.1%
6.6%
9.2%
7.4%
7.2%
68.4%
70.7%
69.1%
70.4%
18.9%
15.9%
19.5%
18.3%
5.0%
3.9%
3.7%
3.3%
0.4%
0.4%
0.3%
0.9%
Answer inquiry
during initial contact
Had knowledge to
answer question
Able to provide
accurate info
Provide relevant info
to solve problem
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
2.25
2.16
2.41
2.34
2.20
2.33
2.36
2.20
Bank (2.20)
Telco (2.36)
Mean
Mean
The lower the mean
score, the more
favourable it is.
Comparison: The knowledge of bank call
centre representatives are beker than telco.
Implication: Telco call
centre need to improve
knowledge of rep.

40. V. Limitations
• Survey questionnaire is long and time consuming
• Respondents feel that questions are similar
• Respondents might not provide ‘real’ answers
• High number of rejections from the public
• Some respondents refused to reveal personal
information despite being told that information are
used for verifying purposes.
• Time constraint
• Incentives not attractive enough
• Low motivation of field force

41. VI. Conclusion
Satisfaction level on Bank Call centres
Respondents are satisfied with:
• Knowledge provided by the call centre
• Speed of how things are solved by the bank call centres
• Overall services provided by call representatives
Respondents are unsatisfied with:
• operating hours of Bank call centres due to lack of awareness
of the operating hour
o Lack of publicity of call centre services
Areas for improvement:
• Increase type of services available over the call centre
• Shorten call transfer process and call waiting time

42. VI. Conclusion
Satisfaction level on Telco’s call centres
Respondents are satisfied with:
• Quick follow up process
• Efficiency of service provided by call representative
Respondents are unsatisfied with:
• Delivery of speech of some call representatives
• Call transfer process and call waiting time
Areas for improvement:
• Increase type services available over the call centres
• Shorten call transfer process and call waiting time
• Improve fluency of speech of representatives

43. VI. Conclusion
Comparison between Bank & Telco’s call centres
services
Bank
Telco
Call representative have beker
akitude
Call representative are not as
enthusiastic in providing help
Call representative have beker
knowledge on their products
and services
Some call representative are
not able to provide accurate
answers to solve respondents
problems/enquiries
Most respondents are unsure
of the operating hours of call
centre
Respondents are more aware
of the operating hours of telco
call centre
Quick and effective in handling problems face by customers and
does quick follow up
Long call menu which customers might not be satisfied with

44. VII. Recommendations
Satisfaction level on Bank Call Centers
Problem
Solution
Methods
Long waiting time
CASE can propose to the
bank management to
increase amount of
operators
CASE
Show statistics of the need
to increase number of
operators
Call centre
Increase operators and
provide training to
increase efficiency
Long call transfer period
CASE can propose to the
bank management to send
their call centre operators
for trainings
Call centre
Provide training to
operators to increase
efficiency and have more
knowledge on products
and services to minimise
call transfer

45. VII. Recommendations
Satisfaction level on Bank Call Centers
Problem
Solution
Methods
Complicated and unclear
call menu options
CASE should propose to
the bank call centre to
minimise the number of
call menu options
Call centre
Ask question like ‘Which
language do the customer
prefer?’, from the start
rather than repeating the
same option in different
languages.
Combine similar options
into one option

46. VII. Recommendation
Satisfaction level on Telco’s call centers
Problem
Solution
Methods
Limited Language
choices offered in call
centres. Some older users
find it hard to speak in
English
CASE can recommend
call centres to hire more
call reps that are
bilingual. (ie: more
Malay & Tamil speakers)
CASE
Work with government
to encourage multi races
recruitment.
Show statistics on the
need of services in other
languages.
Unclear English accent
CASE should
recommend Telco to
minimise outsourcing
and provide training to
their call centers’
representatives.
Call centre
Hire more English
speakers and provide
trainings to foreign
workers to ensure that
they can communicate
and enunciate clearly

47. VII. Recommendation
Satisfaction level on Telco’s call centers
Problem
Solution
Methods
Long waiting time
CASE can propose to the
telco management to
increase amount of
operators
CASE
Show statistics of the need
to increase number of
operators
Call centre
Increase operators and
provide training to
increase efficiency
Long call transfer period
CASE can propose to the
telco management to send
their call centre operators
for trainings
Call centre
Provide training to
operators to increase
efficiency and have more
knowledge on products
and services to minimise
call transfer

48. VII. Recommendation
Problem
Solution
Methods
Customers unaware of
operating hours of call
centre
Propose to call centres to
fully utilize and
publicize to raise
awareness of call centres
in the consumers’ mind
CASE:
Point out loophole to the
management of call
centres
Call centres:
Publicize in their outlets
Akitude of call
representative
Encourage call centres to
improve call
representative akitude
CASE:
Show what will happen
if they do not improve
Customers find it
troublesome to repeat
their problems every
time they call the call
centre
Propose an
implementation of
customer memory
database
Database system which
remembers customers
enquiries preferences
(Give a code to each
customer)
Team’s Insight

49. Thank you!