TROY, Mich., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A recent study shows that an overwhelming majority of consumers formulate their perceptions of a company, and their decision to re-purchase from the business, based on their experiences with the company's customer service contact center.

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The survey, sponsored by Kelly Services, a global provider of staffing services, in partnership with Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality, reveals that 92 percent of U.S. consumers form their image of a company based on their experience using their call center. Just as marketing and advertising have an impact on a company's brand image, call centers also play an important role, and should be considered a critical element of a company's strategy.

"The call center research shows that in today's highly competitive marketplace, matters handled properly through a call center can help ensure customer loyalty," said Teresa Setting, vice president, Kelly Services. "Having customer service representatives trained to ensure a positive customer service experience is crucial to maintaining a strong brand image and keeping customers coming back for more."

Loyalty on the line

The research shows that 63 percent of consumers will stop using a company's products or services based on a negative call center experience. Among those calling to express dissatisfaction with a product or service, 86 percent were more likely to stop using the company if their experience with the customer representative was negative.

Conversely, a mere 16 percent of U.S. consumers report that a call center had exceeded their expectations. Of those consumers, 95 percent will use the company again. This demonstrates that when customers receive outstanding service they become more loyal, and are therefore more likely to re-purchase from the company.

Maintaining the loyalty of those who belong to Generations X or Y seems to be an even greater challenge, since 100 percent of consumers between the ages of 18 and 25 will move to a company's competitor once they have a negative call center experience.

The survey finds the typical consumer calling a contact center to be between the ages of 26 and 55 years old. More than 50 percent of callers have at least a four-year college degree and an average household income of more than $50,000 per year.

"For the average consumer, dealing with a less-than-great call center can be a dreaded experience," said Dr. Jon Anton, director of Benchmark Research at Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality. "Our research shows that a call center is often the only point of contact for a customer with a company and is now more than ever a strategic differentiator for the company."

10 billion connections

Data shows that U.S. consumers make more than 10 billion calls annually to contact centers. Eighty-five percent were made by telephone, eight percent were through e-mail and seven percent via the Internet. The most frequent reasons for contacting a call center was to request help with products or services or to obtain information. Eighty-one percent of respondents said their query was resolved on the first contact.

The call center research was conducted to better understand the expectations and perceptions of the American public as they relate to company call centers as a point of contact. A survey of 561 U.S. consumers was conducted regarding their experiences with call centers. Selected from a broad database, this sample accurately represents all U.S. consumers (age 18 and above) at a 99 percent level of confidence with an error rate of plus or minus 4 percent. All respondents had contacted a call center within the two weeks prior to participating in this survey.

About Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality

Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality is the only University-based research center focused on understanding, researching and educating undergraduates, graduate students and business leaders on how building and enhancing customer relationships is the core competence of the 21st century. Purdue's call center benchmarking research is available at www.BenchmarkPortal.com .

About KellyConnect

KellyConnect is an exclusive Kelly Services program made up of the "best practice" tools necessary to recruit, assess, train, and retain top-performing call center agents worldwide. KellyConnect provides individuals skilled in customer service, sales/telemarketing, collections, market research, and help desk functions to inbound and outbound call centers/contact centers. Kelly's comprehensive understanding of the call center industry and environment is unique in the staffing industry and has helped Kelly to staff nearly 5,600 call center locations in the U.S. Visit www.kellyconnect.com .

Kelly Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB) is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Troy, Mich., offering human resources solutions that include temporary services, staff leasing, outsourcing, vendor on-site and full-time placement. With more than 2,300 company owned and operated offices in 26 countries, Kelly provides to its customers 700,000 employees annually, with skills including office services, accounting, engineering, information technology, law, science, marketing, light industrial, education and health care. Sales in 2001 were $4.3 billion. Visit www.kellyservices.com .

SOURCE Kelly Services, Inc.

-0- 11/20/2002

NOTE TO EDITORS: A summary of the call center research is available by contacting Deana Patritto, +1-248-244-5477, or Daniela Petrovich, +1-248-362-4200./

CONTACT: Deana Patritto of Kelly Services, Inc., +1-248-244-5477, deana_patritto@kellyservices.com ; or Daniela Petrovich of John Bailey & Associates, +1-248-362-4200, petrovich@baileypr.com