Getting through to someone who can help is causing financial services customers the most frustration, according to the latest Institute of Customer Service report.

Capita’s white paper explores how focusing on empathy, kindness and sincerity will equip organisations to help their most vulnerable customers.

There can be no doubt the pandemic has altered the emotional make-up of society. Collectively, we are now much more aware of the suffering of others – and how could we not be after seeing lives turned upside down and businesses upended with no sense of rhyme or reason or equity.

The consumer desire for a brighter Christmas amidst continuing Covid-19 restrictions has seen a sharp rise in ‘buy now pay later’ schemes, and with furlough ending and depression rates rising, a perfect storm lies ahead for all collections teams as consumers juggle multiple payment demands.

The second year of the pandemic has seen more people in the UK slide further into debt and organisations need to recalibrate their response through empathetic collections.

You don’t have to be involved in collections to be aware that the last 18 months have affected the financial circumstances of a huge number of people.

Treating customers with empathy has been an increasingly important area of focus within the customer experience industry.

While technology offers many opportunities to deliver a more proactive and efficient customer experience, it’s the human interactions between brands and their customers that often make the difference.

Research done over the past few years has shown that having people of different genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages and physical and mental abilities within your organisation is good for all sorts of things from innovation and creativity to engagement and retention.