The COVID-19 pandemic has launched a massive surge in demand for digital customer service solutions. As phone waiting times have increased, customers are searching for new channels to get answers to their questions.
Some industries were better prepared for this jump in digital demand than others. According to Dimensional Research and eGain, the landscape is experiencing a significant change. In a recent survey, eGain and Dimensional Research.
The goal of the research, which assessed 625 individuals over 60 days, was to understand the experiences and perspectives of consumers interacting with government and business entities since COVID-19 began. For the study, the term “digital customer service” was defined as any digital contact method, including social media, online form-filling, email, agent-assisted messaging, live video chat, text chat, and chatbots.
According to the report, 80% of consumers have increased their use of digital customer service solutions since COVID-19 began. 38% said they’ve increased use significantly, while 42% said the increase was only slight.
The Customer Experience Landscape is Changing
The survey on the impact of COVID-19 on customer service revealed some essential findings. COVID-19 has created a massive sense of digital urgency for businesses worldwide. 80% of respondents said that they have increased their use of digital service solutions since the pandemic began. Unsurprisingly, it’s the younger generations that are driving the most growth.
Around 87% of millennials and 92% of Gen Z customers said that their use of digital service channels is increasing. Despite this, there are still many companies unable to keep up with a rapid increase in digital demand.
The survey asked customers how they would rate their satisfaction with various touchpoints since COVID-19 began.
Consumers rated their experiences on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being the worst and 1 being the best. The results showed that chatbots were some of the worst digital service options for consumers right now. Email, text chat with live agents, and video chat options emerged at the top of the list.
The inconsistency of digital assistants was a major problem for many customers. Around 57% of customers said that they got different answers from live agents or chatbots when asking the same question. Interestingly, it was the younger generations who said that they were more likely to report inconsistencies to companies after a poor customer service experience.
Is Digital Customer Service Improving?
Although inconsistency between the answers from live agents and chatbots in the digital landscape is a significant problem, improvements are happening. The recent survey asked customers to rate how the state of digital customer service has changed since COVID-19 began.