Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter

The company surveyed nearly 4,000 consumers and more than 1,000 contact center professionals in France, Germany, the United States, and the U.K. Nearly 80 percent of consumers who responded said that they've experienced poor voice quality during calls to a contact center; in 42 percent of those cases it impacted the call in some way, and 26 percent of respondents actually had to redial to complete their transaction.

Nearly 70 percent of consumers who responded said they would hang up if they experienced poor voice quality. Considering only slightly more than a quarter said they had redialed when they had to hang up due to voice quality issues, it's possible that the rest called a competitor instead. The study noted that when voice quality is poor consumers are forced to repeat themselves, adding time to the call--not to mention causing both the customer and agent stress.

So how does this impact business? Contact center professionals surveyed think that poor voice quality adds more than 21 percent to the cost of their operation, and 92 percent think that sales revenues drop as a result of poor voice quality, but they don't have metrics to prove either. However, according to the study, if consumers' perception is accurate, then the national loss (e.g., agent costs) as a result of poor voice quality in the U.S. is $36.8 billion and in the UK is £7.6 billion. However, only one in six contact center respondents said they currently have the tools to monitor voice quality, or plans to implement them in the next 12 months.

If you haven't called your own contact center lately, it may be time to do so--and to check, Can they hear you now?