Are Companies Ready to Offer Customers High Quality Service Via Digital Channels?

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The answer to that question?

Most companies do not appear ready to offer high quality service via digital channels, according to a new study from CXACT.

“This will impact the bottom-line and open companies to competitive threat,” according to the study titled, “Customer Touchpoint Stress Test: A Look at the Customer Experience Across Customer Service Channels.”

The study tested 50 brands for customer satisfaction via different channels: phone, email, online chat, and Facebook. Customers of the companies were recruited to value the services offered.

The following brands participated in the study:

Airlines:
- American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines
Car Manufacturers:
- Ford, GMC, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen
Financial Institutions:
- American Express, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo, Citigroup, SunTrust Banks
Insurance:
- Blue Shield, Humana Group, Allstate, American Family Insurance Group, Progressive, Chubb, Erie Insurance
Cable/Internet:
- Comcast, DIRECTV, DISH Network, RCN Corp., Time Warner Cable
Consumer Electronics:
- Amazon (Kindle), Apple (iPad), Microsoft (Surface), Samsung (Galaxy), Sony (Wide Screen TV)

CPG:
- Clorox, Procter & Gamble (Crest), L'Oréal (Garnier), Johnson & Johnson, Frito Lay (Lay’s)

Retailer:
- Walmart, Best Buy, Kmart, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Target, Meijers
Supermarket:
- Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market, Harris-Teeter, Mrs. Green Market, Safeway Inc., Publix, Kroger

According to the report, phone outperformed (86%) all channels on issue resolution, but room for improvement exists with only 58% being very satisﬁed with the service.

A key takeaway from the report is that inconsistent customer experiences were the norm among the companies tested. Even top performers on phone service struggled with other channels–satisfaction scores were low at 40% for online chat, 22% for email, and 17% for Facebook.

Only 20 of the 50 companies offered chat and the quality of service was mixed with 30% not receiving issues resolved via chat. Most companies were not able to resolve issues via email (only 44% resolved) or via Facebook (only 27% resolved).

Most companies did not offer online chat (20) or Facebook (15) on their customer care pages. Only 52% of the testers found that the customer care information was very easy to ﬁnd, and only 24% found the information extremely helpful.

Text Box: “Experience had a big impact on likelihood to buy.” Phone outperformed all channels in the areas of issue resolution and satisfaction, the report says. What’s more, 70% of testers had their issues resolved via online chat and the speed of resolution was fast at nine minutes, signiﬁcantly faster than other channels. But, satisfaction varied greatly, with only 40% of testers reporting they were very satisﬁed.

“Experience had a big impact on likelihood to buy,” the report says.

Here are some recommendations from the report to enhance opportunities to improve the customer experience across channels:

Phone: Empower reps to resolve issues. Companies that do this have more satisfied and engaged employees

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Your voice tone is your audible personality. The best customer service tools won’t work if customer service agents’ voice tones are ineffective.