Four in ten shoppers have needed to get in touch with a business’s contact centre support with a query or complaint in the last three days, according to new research from Essendex.
In a bid to understand the state of customer care post-pandemic, business messaging provider Esendex surveyed 5,000 consumers worldwide to discover how, how frequently and why they tend to contact companies.
Internationally, 41% of consumers have got in touch with a firm’s customer service department over the past three days – rising to 63% over the past week.
When participants were asked what they contact a business about most often, the following came out as the top reasons globally:
1. Delivery query or update (33%)
2. Order query or update (26%)
3. Refund/exchange query or update (25%)
4. Billing/payment issue (22%)
5. Looking for more information (19%)
Chris Gorman, head of professional services at Esendex, comments:
“Our research shows that in the UK alone, six in ten customers will contact a company with a delivery or order query or update.
“Customer service teams need to be prepared for this kind of traffic, especially as our research also shows that speed of response is the number one thing customers rate the most helpful when contacting a business.
“By employing an omnichannel approach and adding automation into parts of the process, businesses will be able to operate more efficiently, while being able to dedicate more time to issues that cannot be resolved via self-serve options, such as FAQ pages or video tutorials, or with help from a chatbot”.
The findings of the survey, which have been published in a report, also reveal the biggest frustrations that shoppers have when getting in touch with customer support. These are:
1. Unhelpful/didn’t resolve the issue
2. Took too long to respond/answer
3. Going round in circles/repeating myself to different people
4. Chatbot timing out and having to explain the query again
5. Being treated like a ticket or number rather than a human being
One in three (38%) shoppers would also consider a wait of more than five hours as taking too long for a response, highlighting the demand for an always-on culture.
To download the research conducted by Esendex Click Here
As a leading business messaging provider, Esendex creates bespoke communication solutions to solve client problems. It prides itself on doing things differently, from the significant investment in people and technology infrastructure to 24/7 monitoring of all platforms. With its dedication to direct network connections and a large team of in-house developers, the company is committed to continually developing its messaging technology, enabling it to provide industry-leading customer service. Services offered include SMS, voice, email, intelligent automation and rich communication services.
For additional information on Esendex visit their website
