Customer Support Metrics to watch out for
Your customers want great service — that much is clear. But what’s less clear is what, exactly, “great” service looks like to the average consumer. This can make it challenging to develop a strategy that meets their needs and expectations. But when asked what the most important aspects of a good customer experience are, many customers share the same priorities.
Convenience, customer experience, and competitive pricing have a direct impact on buying decisions. Retailers on the other hand need to focus on driving these expectations and building customer loyalty and long-term relationships with consumers.
Consumers prefer authentic interactions with the brands they buy from. They expect the pricing to be competitive and have easy access to product information. They also want the retail brands they buy from to be socially responsible. And retailers who understand these requirements can step up their customer service game.
Channel Preferences
Beyond general aspects like personalization and authentic interactions, consumers also have preferences about which channels they use to contact companies for support. The most obvious benefit of learning these preferences is that you can use it to make informed decisions about the channels included in your customer service strategy.
Beyond that, it can also help you make sure that you’re prioritizing your channels appropriately and delivering the level of service your customers expect on each. And when you consider how quickly these preferences can change as consumers become more familiar with new channels, it’s important to keep an eye on them on a regular basis
It likely won’t surprise many retail store owners, though, to find that the general preference is for digital. Today, 65% of consumers say that digital customer support channels are more convenient, and 50% report that they’re quicker than other channels. That said, there are some slight variances in channel preference by generation.
All age groups favor email, with 70% of consumers citing it as a preferred communication channel. This percentage is slightly higher for Gen X and Baby Boomers at 71% each, and somewhat lower for Millennials at 67%. The next most popular channel, mail, is a bit more surprising — but it won’t come as a surprise to many that Baby Boomers are more in favor of it than their younger counterparts.
And although the phone is one of the most established forms of customer support, only 22% of consumers in this study cited it as a preferred channel and slightly less than this for both Millennials and Gen X respondents.
Finally, it’s worth noting that while social media is the lowest-ranked channel overall, it’s also the channel with the largest variation between age groups. Although just 3% of Baby Boomers prefer it as a support channel, that number jumps to 26% for Millennials — exceeding this age group’s preference for both phone support and mail.
One of the biggest takeaways from this data, then, is that you should tailor your approach to your target audience
If your goal is to serve Baby Boomers, for example, a strategy focused on email and direct mail may be perfectly in line with your customers’ preferences — but the same approach could easily fall short for a Millennial audience.
So as you select channels for your support strategy, make sure to tailor them to your target audience and not just consumers as a whole, as there may be significant discrepancies between these two groups.