A sector specific approach to customer contact: A study by Capita and Contact Babel
If you thought the emergence of new customer contact channels would simplify your customer service approach, you could be wrong. Findings from our recent study suggest that as new and exciting channels become more prevalent, the old faithfuls such as phone, email and letter are still very much in use. For businesses this means becoming even more adept at managing a greater number of channels.
Capita and ContactBabel, the leading contact centre analyst firm recently conducted a survey with over 200 UK organisations to find out sector preferences towards customer contact channels. Here is what we found.
Not so long ago there was a view that new channels such as social media, SMS and webchat could revolutionise the way we communicate with our customers even wiping out some of the older, more traditional channels. Now it seems these channels work more effectively as a complementary approach to the much loved telephone. The telephone accounts for 70-80% of inbound interactions into the typical contact centre and remains king of customer contact. It's popularity looks set to remain in the foreseeable future. The big winners in the customer contact industry will be those that can master multichannel, making the customer experience seamless.
Surprisingly none of the respondents taking part in our study said they were planning to abandon any contact channel they were already using.
With new entrants such as social media and webchat coming of age as well as established channels like email, IVR and whitemail maintaining or growing in their usage, managing customer communication is becoming more and more complex.
Industry focused contact
The sector you operate in is highly influential in determining the best channels to use. We found the use of social media as a monitoring tool to be most advanced in the Retail and Distribution sector, where understanding the customer's view of the brand is key. Using social media as a direct customer contact channel is more likely to be found in the Telecoms & Media sector where there is a need to deliver a hi-tech approach to service.
SMS is used widely across Insurance and Housing sectors and is useful in providing reminders for contract renewals or repair visits. Many finance organisations also use SMS to remind customers about overdrafts or due payments.
For the Utilities sector, which is very much driven by inbound call volumes, IVR is a popular choice. Our Utilities respondents said that the speed IVR provides can actually help strengthen customer relationships, contradictory to the negative connotations automated channels can often have.
Our respondents went on to say that providing a good customer service experience will build your brand, no matter what channel, as long as it suits the customer. This comes back to the importance of implementing a multichannel approach so your customers receive the same high level of service every time they contact you no matter which channel they choose. Success is really down to providing customer choice and supplying the right options for busy lifestyles.
Email was found to be a popular channel across most organisations, excluding finance, where privacy and confidentiality regulations do not lend themselves to the use of this channel.
Leading the way with webchat is the Telecoms and Media sector resulting from a generally tech-savvy customer demographic. The success of this channel should not be ignored and understanding best practice in this sector can help you to build an effective webchat strategy, as a sales or service tool.
What does the future hold?
Our findings suggest that the largest take up of social media as a customer service channel will be within the Finance and Travel sectors with half of respondents saying they will introduce the channel in the next 12 months. webchat in the Retail and Travel sectors. Using it to increase the success of website purchases, questions can be answered in real time as potential customers navigate through the website.
There are also big plans for webchat in the Retail and Travel sectors. Using it to increase the success of website purchases, questions can be answered in rela time as potential customers navigate through the website.
Know your customers
The research shows that there are clear contact strategy trends and preferences between sectors, but each organisation's customer base within a sector can also differ. Younger generations may choose social media and webchat while older generations may still prefer to pick up the phone. Understanding the environment you operate in along with knowing your customers inside out will help you to develop an effective channel strategy.
Also critical to success is making sure you have one single view of the customer. As customer data collection points grow this can be tricky but no matter what the data collection point, organisations need to ensure a single view canbe accessed from all channels.
As more channels become available it almost certainly brings new complexities to customer contact and the most effective ways to use it.The way to get round this dilemma is to gain a true understanding of how your customers actually want to communicate with you.
Thank you!
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