Digital Customer Service Channels Lagging, Consumers Say

August 15, 2016

This article is included in these additional categories:

Boomers & Older | Customer Service & Experience | Digital | Email | Mobile Phone | Social Media | Tablet | Youth & Gen X

NorthridgeGroup-Ease-Customer-Service-Channel-Usage-Aug2016Companies make it far easier for their customers to pick up the phone and call them with a service issue than to text them or interact with them on social media, according to [download page] the results of a survey from The Northridge Group. And even when they do contact companies on social channels, consumers are finding it difficult to get a quick resolution.

The survey of more than 1,000 consumers reveals that a majority feel that companies make it easy to contact them about a customer service issue or inquiry by phone (56%) or email (52%). But far fewer feel that companies make it easy to contact them via text message (34%), mobile app self-service (39%) or social media (39%). (For more on chatbots and business messaging, see this article.)

[SPONSORED: Free Report: The State of Customer Service]

Meanwhile, although 87% of respondents usually get a response and a resolution when they contact a company by phone, less than half feel that way about the response they get when they text message a company (46%) or contact it via social media (44%).

Add it up, and almost half (48%) of respondents say that the phone is their preferred method to contact a company with a customer service issue or inquiry, double the share of the next-most preferred method, email (24%). Just 3% prefer text messaging a company, and only 2% pick social media as their preferred channel.

Those preferences change a little depending on the nature of the issue, though. Phones are the preferred channel for handling a billing or payment question, resolving a problem, and making changes to an account. However email is preferred for making a comment or suggestion, and web self-service has an above-average preference rate for making account changes.

As for social media, despite not being a preferred channel, it is being used more commonly. Some 57% of Millennials (18-34), for example, say they’re using social media channels for customer service more often than they were a year ago. Both Gen Xers (35-50) and Boomers (51-69) are also more likely to have upped than cut their use of social media for customer care.

Among those choosing social media as a point of contact, more report doing so to share a positive (48%) than negative (37%) customer experience.

About the Data: The report is based on a survey of 1,000 US consumers aged 18 and older.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This