A Verint study has revealed that US customers no longer view telephony as the most convenient channel for raising queries.
The State of Digital Customer Experience Report surveyed 1,500 American customers, who placed digital channels above voice for the “first time in the history” of Verint’s reports.
Digital channels encompass companies’ websites, social media pages, and/or private messaging capabilities, with 72 percent of respondents confirming that they had used this method to contact a company in the last 12 months.
In addition, when asked specifically how they prefer to contact an organization, 61 percent of those surveyed said digital, leaving 39 percent opting for phone.
Verint described the survey results as a “watershed moment” for the contact center space, where phone has historically been the king of customer service channels.
But what other CX trends did the report reveal? And what lessons can organizations and leaders learn?
Chatbot Shortcomings
Despite digital channels proving more popular, there were still some familiar issues revealed in the findings of Verint’s report.
Although chatbots and automated telephone systems (IVRs) possess the ability to deliver the speed that customers desire, too often, these solutions fail to adequately handle issues.
68 percent of respondents admitted to receiving a bad chatbot and IVR experience in the last 12 months, with the inability to understand and/or answer a question listed as the biggest problem for chatbot users, while IVR customers noted a mixture of usability issues.
Even with these shortcomings, customers still believe chatbots are capable of saving them time and resolving queries more quickly, as seen in the below graphic:
With customers now more willing to use automated channels, Verint believes that in order to maximize the potential of the tech, organizations should invest in more sophisticated virtual assistants.
The company claims that its own Intelligent Virtual Assistants can understand the reason behind a customer's inquiry, which allows the solution to resolve issues more efficiently, increasing containment rates.
Additionally, AI-powered routing can direct the interaction to the most appropriate human agent, enhancing first contact resolution.
The benefits of using AI-powered assistants were also discussed by Matty Kaffeman, Vice President of North Asia and Korea at Verint, who said:
Companies today are striving to provide the best customer service experience where the customer won’t need to be put on hold amid rising volume of queries and higher expectations for customer service.
“AI-powered bots are a big part to alleviating companies’ stress in this, but they need to be used effectively and hand-in-hand with human agents.”
Preferred Channels
Interestingly, Verint’s findings follow a recent CX debate surrounding customers having preferred channels.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Simon Harrison, Founder and CEO of Actionary, questioned the concept of a "channel of choice" in customer engagement.
He argued that the idea that customers have a single preferred channel for contacting companies is misleading.
Instead, Harrison believes that the choice of channel depends on the specific circumstances of the query or issue, as each channel provides different levels and types of support.