Phone Calls Still Consumers’ Preferred Method of Contacting Businesses

January 29, 2014

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand Loyalty & Purchase Habits | Customer Service & Experience | Email | Social Media | Word of Mouth | Youth & Gen X

NewVoiceMedia-Most-Effective-Issue-Resolution-Methods-Jan2014Demand for customer service via social media is on the rise, but consumers still find good old phone calls to be the best way to contact businesses, according to a study from NewVoiceMedia. Some 45% of respondents believe that calling a company is the most effective way to get their problem solved, compared to 19% who felt that way about email and 13% about social media channels. Respondents were even more convinced when it came to which method would give them the quickest response.

Three-quarters of respondents said they believe that calling gives the quickest response to getting their issue resolved, compared to 15% who chose email and 4% social media channels. That’s understandable, given recent data indicating that the average response time to a question posed of a brand on Facebook is more than a full day.

The order of results in the NewVoiceMedia survey tallies with prior data from ZenDesk, which showed that consumers are more satisfied with their service experiences on the phone than on email or social media.

Overall, then, it’s not surprising that 59% of respondents to the NewVoiceMedia survey indicated that calling is their preferred method of communication with a business, versus 33% for email.

Just because that’s the preferred method of communication, though, doesn’t mean that all consumers will be complaining to companies over the phone. Among 25-34-year-olds, 59% said they would complain about a company by posting a review online (including on social media).

As with other research illustrating the impact of poor customer service, the NewVoiceMedia study indicates that 58% of consumers would never use a company again following a poor service experience, and 49% would tell friends and colleagues not to use the business. More than 9 in 10 would take some form of action, including 16% who would use social media to take their revenge. Conversely, 7 in 10 respondents would be more loyal to a company that gave them good service, and 69% would recommend the company to others.

About the Data: The data is based on a survey of 2,030 US adults undertaken by Opinion Matters from October 11-18, 2013.

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