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Customers lose their voice as communication shifts online

Posted 28-06-2012

Customers prefer to visit forums, chat to peers on social media and research a business online rather than pick up the phone.  Research from Ember Services shows that rather than maintaining its position as the first point of contact between customer and business, call centres are now a last resort for 80 per cent of consumers who prefer to seek help online before ringing a company.

 

Ember’s founder Paul Mackenzie says businesses should redirect their customer communication spending and efforts towards emerging online channels, rather than relying predominantly on expensive voice support options.  

 

“Where once (the customer’s) first instinct would be to pick up the phone, today they’ll use self service channels to get service and make transactions, and social media communities to research and form opinions about companies and products.  Companies that persevere in treating the phone as their primary customer engagement channel are not only spending money they don’t need to spend, they are curtailing their opportunities to win customers and grow business.”    

Read our previous blog post on the perils of ignoring online communication channels