New Survey Finds the Key to Significant Sales Growth: Great Customer Service

A study released yesterday, Tuesday, April 10, found that nearly 70 percent of consumers would buy 25-30 percent more from a brand if it provided one thing: great customer service.
 
The ability to connect immediately with a relevant associate, interact digitally and receive contextual, personalized service would be all it takes, according to the report, ”Modern Experiences for Connected Consumers: Creating Digital Customer Engagement” by Oracle Communications. It’s a result driven by the fact that customers are, quite simply, fed up with poor customer engagement experience and outdated approaches to customers service.
 
Long wait times (51 percent) and unresolved issues (41 percent) were the two most common complaints of the 5,028 consumers across regions and industries who were polled. Seventy-seven percent of those polled said these kind of experiences detract from their quality of life.
 
The survey also found that:

  • 75 percent perceive that modern engagement capabilities will enhance their experience;
  • 79 percent want their issues to be resolved in one interaction;
  • 76 percent will use a company that can minimize menu selections and get them to the right individual quickly;
  • 68 percent felt modern engagement capabilities expanded their options for interacting with brands, helping make engagements contextual; and
  • 75 percent recognize the value and efficiency of voice and video chat.
 
Consumers are becoming more comfortable interacting across a growing list of digital channels, such as chat, video and screen sharing, the survey found, as they recognize the value and efficiency these new mediums offer.
 
However, the value of human intuition cannot be discounted, and a blending of human and technology assistance is preferred.
 
 
The survey also found that:
  • Age doesn't matter: Both Millennials, who are naturally inclined to adopt to new digital ways of communicating, and those aged 35 and older both saw the benefits of modern digital engagement capabilities.
  • Modern engagement can transform interactions across all industries: Consumers across industries felt their experience would be enhanced through modern engagement methods, including: cable (80 percent), insurance (78 percent), banking loans (66 percent), healthcare (72 percent), and online retail (68 percent).
  • Preferred engagement channels vary by region: In North America, the combination of human contact and video engagement topped the “extremely satisfied” list, while in Europe consumers were most receptive to modern engagement capabilities and consumers in Australia/New Zealand are most satisfied with mobile app, kiosk and web chat channels.
 
“Customers are a company's most critical asset, but in a quest for efficiency, customer engagement has become less aware and overly impersonal,” said Doug Suriano, senior vice president and general manager for Oracle Communications. “Modern engagement technologies that proactively engage customers at the right time across web and mobile using contextual voice, video and screen sharing, or that can transition a chatbot conversation to live assistance coupled with machine learning and AI, have the ability to transform how customers interact with their brands—delivering meaningful resolutions with the personal touch that customers desire.”

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