Consumers now have an ever-increasing range of channels to interact with businesses. This places the onus on businesses to deliver consistent, high-quality service across all of them. But how can they use these channels effectively and efficiently?
To get the balance right, you need to start by understanding your customers. How, why, and when do they want to engage with your business? This insight can be used to ensure you have the right channels and resources in place for the moments when they want to interact with you.
Recent research from ContactBabel provides some useful insights into channel selection. As part of the Inner Circle Guide toCustomer Engagement and Personalization 2021,sponsored by Enghouse Interactive, ContactBabel surveyed 1,000 UK consumers. The aim was to investigate why people choose certain channels in specific situations. The research looked at three different scenarios: those where there is a high level of emotion; those where there is a sense of urgency; and those involving a high level of complexity.
1. High-emotion interactions: Email is the predominant choice
For the high-emotion scenarios, the survey asked respondents to imagine a scenario where they were sent the wrong product, which meant they had to return it. This isn’t a complex or urgent situation, but it’s frustrating because it’s not the customer’s fault, which makes it emotional.
In this case, email was the most popular contact option for people (46%). 19% of consumers in the survey said they would prefer to call, while 17% would use chat. This may be because email allows consumers to explain exactly what the issue is and provides an audit trail, although it doesn’t require an instant response.
However, while email was the most popular choice for all demographic groups, older consumers were more likely to call, while those aged 25-44 preferred to use chat. 8% of the younger group would choose social media. Overall, the findings were consistent across all socioeconomic groups, although consumers in the lower-income C2DE segments were again more likely to call.
2. High urgency: Self-service provides quick responses
To identify channel preferences related to high-urgency customer queries, the survey asked participants to imagine that they needed to check the flight time of a person they were meeting. This is obviously urgent in the sense that it is a very time-sensitive query, but it is not complex or emotional.
Unsurprisingly, the self-service/mobile app channel was the thailand mobile phone number favorite in this situation. Half (50%) of the overall sample chose this channel, rising to 61% among the 35-44 age group. For this type of query, people don’t need any human interaction – they just need to access the information quickly and be assured that it’s correct.
Interestingly, compared to last year, fewer people in the over-65 age group in the sample said they would choose to use the phone for this type of high-urgency event. This may be related to the fact that the pandemic has increased the use of digital by older age groups, making them more reliant on these channels.
As an example of a highly complex query, the research sample was asked to imagine that they needed to contact a company for help filling out a mortgage application or filing a tax return. This type of interaction is likely to be extremely complex and time-consuming, but not urgent or emotional.
Face-to-face contact was the most popular option in this scenario, with 21% of people across all demographics preferring this option. 16% of survey respondents said they would choose to use the phone, and the same percentage would use web/mobile app self-service, up from last year.
Web chat has also grown in popularity, with 14% of consumers choosing it. Chat is particularly useful for complex and complex queries, as it offers the ability to have a conversation with a quick response without having to pick up the phone or meet in person. It also allows for screen sharing so agents/advisors can discuss specific areas or identify errors.