Enghouse Interactive has released a new report which highlights changes in customer communication preferences over the past two years.
Titled “The Changing Landscape of Customer Communications”, the report surveyed both IT professionals and customers to gain insights into evolving perspectives of CX since the onset of the pandemic. One clear-cut trend is a growing preference for digital communication, with 95% of IT professionals reporting that they had to make changes to their customer service channels.
The report also reveals a strong focus across organisations on enhancing the quality of the customer service experiences, with 59% of organisations increasing investment in customer service operations over the past two years.
However, customers still think companies can do better, as only 17% of consumers said that customer service had improved during the pandemic.
These results show a disconnect between what customers value and what organisations think they value.
Understandably, the pandemic brought on many challenges for both organisations and customers, especially at times when face-to-face interactions were not possible.
To combat these challenges, companies focused on investing in customer service, with 25% saying their main focus was improving the quality and ease of access to frequently asked questions (FAQ). 24% of organisations also invested in hiring new skilled staff and 23% focused on training existing staff in new ways of working.