Nearly 100% of 2,900 smartphone users surveyed in North America, the United Kingdom, Asia Pacific, and Central and Latin America expect problem notification without having to ask, pre-empting calls to a contact center according to a report from Amdocs.
The survey, conducted by leading analyst firm Coleman Parkes, highlights a massive opportunity for service providers to reduce contact center costs and to improve customer experience by creating a more complete, consistent and accessible self-service capability, while leveraging customer insight to proactively prevent and eliminate calls.
Here are some key findings in the report:
Smartphones still present a challenge: The majority of smartphone users encounter issues related to device or service during the first year of use – 82% asked their service provider at least one question, while 50% had two or more questions.
Online support can be improved: 75% of surveyed consumers said they would prefer to use online support if it were reliable, but only 37% currently even try to use self-service options, which are often perceived as inaccurate or incomplete. An overwhelming 91% say they would use a single, online knowledge base if it were available and tailored to their needs.
Social media channels are under-used by service providers: More than half of all respondents (54%) have already complained directly to their mobile service provider through social media channels, but 73% of these respondents said they did not receive satisfactory answers.
The contact center picks up the pieces: This lack of satisfactory online support is driving large numbers of consumers to contact centers, wasting valuable resources. More than 40% of customers call a contact center after they cannot find answers to their question via self-service and up to 50% of "How do I ...?" calls could be deflected to self-care channels.
“We are seeing a major shift in customer behavior,” Ian Parkes, Director and Co-Founder at Coleman Parkes, said in the report. “Consumers prefer to seek answers to common questions through online resources. However, many end users believe service providers’ online services cannot solve their problems, so they gravitate back to the call center. There is a clear opportunity for service providers to take control of the experience and to reduce costs.”
Parkes added that the proliferation of smartphones and services poses a growing support challenge for service providers “as new owners struggle to understand” device features, services and plans.