Is Voice Chat the Future? Are phone calls dead?
Phone calls were the go-to media of customer engagement and consumer inquiries for so long. Then came the voice chats, and things took a complete turn for customer engagement. Voice chats offer a prompt communication medium and come with the added advantage of resuming the conversation from the last point of interaction. Let’s look at some chat statistics first.
According to Helpscout customers prefer live chat to calls and mails for quick solutions, and live chat satisfaction rates are higher across every industry.
Some more interesting facts that make it loud and clear why chats matter more than phone calls:
· 35% of US smartphone users check their phones more than 50 times a day
· 65% of smartphone users have game apps on their phones.
· Apps account for 89% of mobile media time, with the other 11% spent on websites.
Chats offer something that humans have an innate craving for, control. From a business perspective, this level of control on where to take a customer interaction is proving to play a pivotal role in user engagement.
In-app voice chat feature for websites and mobile apps allows customers to do more than just talk. On top of that, voice chats cost way less than a phone call when it comes to customer care.
Phone calls are what we can easily call the old school grandfather of customer relationship management. It’s time-consuming, requires a lot of call transfers from one department to another, and also the incessant waiting for an agent in case all agents are occupied.
On top of that, the efficacy of resolution also depends on the knowledge of the customer service agent. In case the call is connected to a fresher-level agent, customers may find themselves put on hold longer than they’d like to be.
But the troubles don’t end there, experienced phone assistants sometimes jump to conclusions more often than required. It may be a tough pill to swallow, but most of the time, experienced customer care executives develop the rockstar syndrome and think they know it all. That’s troublesome for business.
Putting things in perspective is easier said than done in a short post. We created a detailed article on the future of voice chat and how phone calls are dying a slow death. This post will clarify your doubts on whether you should go all-in with voice chats and ditch phone calls altogether, or is there a point of equilibrium that maximizes customer experience while keeping business costs low.
