Do you know your customers’ expectations of a customer service chat?
It appears obvious that chat is a valuable addition to the customer service offering of companies. Its use is particularly attractive in terms of increasing efficiency in service provision, not least due to its high automation potential.
My experience of the introduction of chat in customer service has shown that, operationally, it often takes place in combination with phone as a service channel. This, however, stands in stark contrast to real customer behaviour.
My study on the “Anatomy of the Ideal Chat for Commercial Use” has shown that chat is used actively and regularly by customers of all age groups. This trend is, however, largely confined to private use. Customers’ positive perceptions of this communication channel generally relate to instant messenger platforms. Chat widgets embedded in websites are perceived as less attractive by consumers, even though personal data is considerably more secure here due to the widget’s storage on company servers.
Only one third of respondents stated that they had initiated a chat with a company, or attempted to, in the past twelve months. Of these customers, 65 per cent were left dissatisfied with both the chat itself and the result.
These findings should set alarm bells ringing for companies. On the one hand, the expected efficiency gain is not observed in practice as customer interactions with companies increase. On the other hand, a quarter of respondents stated they did not attempt to contact the company on a different channel if chat was unsuccessful, which makes the loss of customers a real risk.
The discrepancy between expectation and reality is particularly great in terms of customers’ actual use of commercial chats. Companies generally subscribe to the view that customers engage with service chats actively when they are able to devote their full attention to them. This is not the case. More than 70 per cent of respondents indicated that they used commercial chat while they are busy with other things. Chat is seen as a quick and easy way to have questions answered or simple requests processed without having to wait in hotline queues. Ironically, both customers and companies are intent on more efficient communication but this ambition is not realised by the commercial chat solutions currently available on the market.
These findings indicate three main risks for companies seeking to improve their service provision through chat:
1. The technical implementation of chat solutions does not reflect their use by customers
2. The quality of the content provided via chat is not satisfactory
3. Operational implementation that is not tailored to the requirements of this communication channel.
Each of these issues point to the risk of the inappropriate use of financial resources in the implementation of chat. Any two, or indeed all three, in combination indicate a hazard that chat as a communication channel will drain company resources rather than bringing about the efficiency gains desired by companies and customers alike.
If you are interested in more in-depth results of my study “Anatomy of the Ideal Chat for Commercial Use” or would like to discuss any questions related to it with me personally, please do not hesitate to contact me via email (o.schoenstein@smilla.info).
Translated by Anastasia Schulze & Will Boulding