Notes and sources

Studies and metrics

The home page uses public research findings and commentary from Gartner, Forrester, Ipsos and academic institutions. Gartner and Forrester are commercial research and consulting firms; Ipsos is a market research company. The articles, Ipsos report and academic abstract linked below are readable without paid access. Not all sources disclose the complete methodology.

The findings do not demonstrate the effectiveness of ezsrv or Responder Video. Surveys and statistical associations do not justify universal causal or savings claims. The samples are not representative benchmarks for German property managers or technical service businesses.

Many customers prefer to solve service problems themselves

Eric Keller, Gartner, 9 June 2023: The freely accessible author article “How to Remove Effort from 3 Phases of the Self-Service Journey” reports that almost half of customers would prefer to solve their problems themselves rather than contact a service agent. It does not provide an exact percentage, sample size or survey date for this finding. “Almost one in two” is a verbal summary, not an exact 50% measurement. The article also describes a lack of confidence in self-service resolution and the importance of an easy transition to personal help.

Full Gartner author article at Smart Customer Service

Further context on wanting fast help: Kate Leggett, Forrester, 23 May 2019, reports that two thirds of customers regard valuing their time as the most important aspect of good service. This is a separate finding; it does not establish speed as the measured reason for preferring self-service. The freely accessible article gives no sample size for this finding.

Full Forrester article on self-service and customer experience

Understand the issue and offer suitable support

Gartner, 19 August 2024: 45% of customers who started with self-service said the company did not understand their issue. The overall survey covered 5,728 customers in December 2023. The 45% refers to the subgroup who started with self-service; its size is not given in the public release. Gartner also reports that 14% of service issues were fully resolved in self-service. These figures do not describe all call-centre contacts.

Public Gartner release on self-service resolution

Reduce customer effort and support loyalty

Ipsos, Jean-François Damais, February 2016: The fully open report “Are Your Customers Working Too Hard?” is based on 10,061 online interviews in the US across seven industries, conducted in January 2015. According to the report, customers who perceived themselves as putting in more effort than the company were four times as likely to be willing to use the company less or stop using it, compared with customers who perceived more effort from the company. The finding is on PDF page 4; the methodology is on PDF page 7.

The study examined the balance between perceived customer and company effort after negative events or complaints. This is not a general fourfold churn rate or demonstrated retention improvement through a particular tool. It supports the recommendation to visibly reduce the burden on customers and show commitment to resolving their problem.

Read the full Ipsos report as a PDF

Further context on satisfaction: The Gartner author article by Eric Keller (2023) linked above describes the connection between lower service effort, satisfaction and loyalty. It is public research commentary, not a fully documented new study. We measure satisfaction, effort and subsequent retention separately in your own process.

Service quality and customer loyalty

Zanna van der Aa, Josée Bloemer and Jörg Henseler: “Using customer contact centres as relationship marketing instruments”, Service Business 9, 185–208 (2015), online 2013; DOI 10.1007/s11628-013-0223-9. Survey of 1,589 customers of three service companies in different industries. The model describes the relationship between contact-centre quality and customer loyalty as indirect, mediated by relationship quality. It does not provide a general percentage increase in retention.

Public abstract and bibliographic details from the University of Twente

Metrics for your process

The KPI definitions on the home page are suggested operational measurement rules from ezsrv, not industry benchmarks taken from these studies. Time windows, case boundaries, cost scope and scales are defined before a pilot. For customer effort, a higher value on the proposed 1–7 scale means easier resolution; other CES scales may run in the opposite direction. For satisfaction, the positive-rating share is the number of 4- and 5-star responses divided by all valid responses, multiplied by 100.

External links

Sources open in a new tab. Linked services are the responsibility of their respective operators. Content and availability may change.

Product information

The Responder Video feature description is based on the official product website. Scope and terms are agreed in the specific offer. Suitability of visual support is reviewed separately for each case during the process review and pilot.