Hi Neil, Yes indeed, the majority of consumers want and expect to be able to self-serve answers to their questions online quickly and easily, and in the channel of their choice. However, our own research has shown that despite 90% of consumers expecting to receive a consistent experience over multiple channels, 65% have received inconsistent information when contacting brands via different channels. A businesses ability to provide the same service and experience across all touch-points is key to improving customer satisfaction levels and loyalty to a brand - http://bit.ly/UVXUiB
An interesting article and stat's that reflect the findings we also found from our own recent research into multi-channel customer service - http://bit.ly/UVXUiB. Consumers do indeed want and expect to self-serve online, with our survey showing that 67% prefer online channels to voice for after sales customer service and that 90% of consumers will always check a website before calling or e-mailing an organisation. Crucially, 7 out of 10 respondents also thought that online customer service would dominate over traditional call centres within a decade. Consistency is a key element of online customer service however - the number of channels by which a customer can contact an organisation over are increasing constantly and having a multi-channel customer service strategy in place to ensure you offer the same experience across all of these channels is critical to ensuring brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Use of video as part of knowledge-base answers can be a really useful tool, providing customers with an extra level of support. The benefit is two-fold; customers receive relevant and informative content helping them to resolve their issues quickly and easily online, and the contact centre reduces costs as inbound calls or e-mails are either deflected by customers using self-service or by helping agents reduce their call times. Northumbrian Water are a good example - using video as part of their web self-service knowledge-base, to help show customers how to read their water meter -http://bit.ly/17ZWhse (click on 'How do I read my meter?'). I agree that video should be used as part of an overall multi-channel customer service strategy - good knowledge management is key.
These are interesting statistics and reflect the results of a research report Synthetix recently conducted of 500 consumers in the US and UK on the importance of multi-channel customer service. According to our research, nine out of ten people now expect to receive consistent information over multiple customer contact channels. Unfortunately our findings also revealed how businesses are failing to meet this expectation. We found 65% of consumers have received inconsistent information when contacting brands via multiple channels, with 74% ranking this kind of poor multi-channel experience as a major annoyance. Effective Knowledge Management is key to resolving this issue. By developing a centralised knowledge-base of information, you can ensure that customers get quick and consistent answers to their questions – through web self-service, from agents in contact centres or through a variety of other channels including mobile, social media or in-store. The ability to constantly up-date the knowledge-base with information on company products and services, ensures contact centre agents are able to provide customers with accurate and timely answers. You can download a copy of our customer service survey here - http://bit.ly/W6SwIL
My answers
Hi Neil, Yes indeed, the majority of consumers want and expect to be able to self-serve answers to their questions online quickly and easily, and in the channel of their choice. However, our own research has shown that despite 90% of consumers expecting to receive a consistent experience over multiple channels, 65% have received inconsistent information when contacting brands via different channels. A businesses ability to provide the same service and experience across all touch-points is key to improving customer satisfaction levels and loyalty to a brand - http://bit.ly/UVXUiB
An interesting article and stat's that reflect the findings we also found from our own recent research into multi-channel customer service - http://bit.ly/UVXUiB. Consumers do indeed want and expect to self-serve online, with our survey showing that 67% prefer online channels to voice for after sales customer service and that 90% of consumers will always check a website before calling or e-mailing an organisation. Crucially, 7 out of 10 respondents also thought that online customer service would dominate over traditional call centres within a decade. Consistency is a key element of online customer service however - the number of channels by which a customer can contact an organisation over are increasing constantly and having a multi-channel customer service strategy in place to ensure you offer the same experience across all of these channels is critical to ensuring brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Use of video as part of knowledge-base answers can be a really useful tool, providing customers with an extra level of support. The benefit is two-fold; customers receive relevant and informative content helping them to resolve their issues quickly and easily online, and the contact centre reduces costs as inbound calls or e-mails are either deflected by customers using self-service or by helping agents reduce their call times. Northumbrian Water are a good example - using video as part of their web self-service knowledge-base, to help show customers how to read their water meter -http://bit.ly/17ZWhse (click on 'How do I read my meter?'). I agree that video should be used as part of an overall multi-channel customer service strategy - good knowledge management is key.
These are interesting statistics and reflect the results of a research report Synthetix recently conducted of 500 consumers in the US and UK on the importance of multi-channel customer service. According to our research, nine out of ten people now expect to receive consistent information over multiple customer contact channels. Unfortunately our findings also revealed how businesses are failing to meet this expectation. We found 65% of consumers have received inconsistent information when contacting brands via multiple channels, with 74% ranking this kind of poor multi-channel experience as a major annoyance. Effective Knowledge Management is key to resolving this issue. By developing a centralised knowledge-base of information, you can ensure that customers get quick and consistent answers to their questions – through web self-service, from agents in contact centres or through a variety of other channels including mobile, social media or in-store. The ability to constantly up-date the knowledge-base with information on company products and services, ensures contact centre agents are able to provide customers with accurate and timely answers. You can download a copy of our customer service survey here - http://bit.ly/W6SwIL