It’s a time when countless consumer-focused brands are wrestling with this year’s customer experience (CX) performance and next year’s CX plans.
If that’s true for you, don’t forget one of the most important steps in the process. Step away from the spreadsheets and take a look at your CX strategy from an entirely different perspective: through the eyes of your customer.
Recently, the leadership team at Hiver decided to do just that. The results of their survey are eye-opening and challenging – and, if you’re already convinced that your customers demand better service than what you delivered pre-pandemic – very validating.
Take a look at their top line results, below.
If you would like to know how Skybridge Americas can help your brand deliver exponentially improved experience to your customers, please reach out. We would love to talk!
80% consumers expect better customer service during COVID-19
In today’s world, companies place great importance on meeting customer expectations. According to Forrester, nearly 95% of leaders say that providing a good customer service experience is a top strategic priority.
But it’s a market full of consumers who want different things at different times through various channels. What do customers actually want? What do customers expect from your customer support?
To better understand how consumers expect customer support to be and help companies understand the consumer’s perspective better, we decided to conduct a research study.
Customer service through the eyes of consumers in 2020
We surveyed over 1000 respondents in the US across different age groups and asked them about their expectations, preferences, and pet peeves regarding customer support. Key findings in the report include how consumers prefer contacting companies, their idea of good customer service, and how they’d react to a sub-par experience.
If you want to read the full report, you can download it here. For a quick snapshot, read on:
Consumers want more empathy and faster responses during the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed customer service for consumers and companies alike. Even as customer support professionals find themselves without infrastructure or support in the middle of the pandemic, customer expectations are at an all-time high.
According to the research, 32% of consumers want customer service to be both more responsive and empathetic. The trend indicates increasing expectations, making a job that is hard for customer support executives on a typical day far more challenging.
Email is still one of the most popular channels
Modern consumers expect companies to communicate with them on their preferred channel through email, in person, live chat, or phone — depending on the urgency of the issue.
According to Hiver’s research, most Gen Z and Millennials consider email as their preferred medium of customer support communication, followed by phone communication as the second choice. However, a majority of people above the age of 54 prefer phone conversations while contacting customer support.
Excellent customer service means ‘timely resolutions’
It doesn’t matter if you’re in a store, on the phone, or online – no one likes to wait. According to the research, more than 50% of consumers consider ‘resolution time’ as one of the most critical factors to decide whether a customer support experience qualifies as good.
Read the entire article here >
-Bobby Matthews
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Skybridge Americas
bmatthews@skybridgeamericas.com
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