In association with International Fraud Awareness Week, leading brands Sitel Group and CallMiner partnered on a new report on preventing fraud and improving CX with artificial intelligence. The study set out to identify consumer concerns around fraud as well as customer habits, channel preferences, and perceptions around the use of AI in the contact centre.
The study gathered responses from 1,200 US Americans with a 21-question survey and revealed some interesting information about the state of CX today. According to the report, while just under 46% of Americans say that they have been victims of fraud, 92% believe that the risk of fraud is increasing in our day-to-day lives.
Communicating with Companies
According to the Sitel report, most consumers feel most comfortable talking to a brand or company over the phone. Phone communication was even more popular than social media (6%), and live chat (14%). However, while people feel relatively comfortable using phones for customer service, they’re also concerned about their security levels. 87% of Americans admitted that they’re concerned about sharing their personal information over the phone with a brand. Gen Z (90%) were the most concerned about their potential to be targeted for fraud over the phone.
Interestingly, though consumers are worried about sharing information with a brand over the phone, when the respondents were asked which channel, they believe presents the highest opportunity for fraud today, 47% named social media channels. This response could be linked to recent scandals in the news reducing the confidence Americans have in social channels.
In a world where customers are clearly nervous about how and where they share information with brands, it’s important for companies to have a strategy for offering peace of mind. One option could be to provide better employee training so that agents can explain why personal information is necessary. 7 in 10 Americans have previously wondered why customer support reps have asked for their information.
Could Disruptive Technology be a Solution?
Another option for today’s companies could be to invest in new technology. Although 82% of Americans said that they haven’t used a smart assistant to conduct a customer support call, nearly one in five have. Additionally, younger generations like Gen Z are more likely to use assistants to connect with a company. When asked whether they would feel comfortable making a purchase via an assistant, one in five Americans said they would.
Of the Sitel respondents that didn’t feel comfortable making purchases with smart assistants, 43% said the reason that was that they were concerned someone might be able to hack into their device. This information indicates that if businesses want to start taking advantage of new technology like voice-enabled technology, they’ll need to find ways to prioritise security.