What’s the Best Channel Mix for my Business?
As the world of technology becomes more and more complex, it can become increasingly difficult to keep up with what platforms and channels you need to be providing for your customers. These days, you can’t expect your customers to come to you, regardless of channel. Instead, you have to go to them and be available on the channels they prefer. So what channels do they prefer?
Telephony
Telephony has the perception of being outdated and a slowly dying channel. It also suffers from the connotations of call centres: bad quality outsourcing, constantly repeating yourself, and unbeatable frustration. But, as far as we’re concerned, telephony is still relevant and will remain so for a long time; according to one study, 31.9% of respondents still prefer telephony, beating it’s close contender, webchat. Telephony is different to all other channels because it connects the customer to the operator in a way that can only really be replicated in person or over video chat (the latter of which is not common in CS right now).
But telephony isn’t for everyone; Millennials in particular are infamous for having an aversion to phone calls. Of all smartphone users, 91% are Millennials, and 25% of them don’t use their phones to make calls at all. That means that telephony is increasingly becoming a channel for older customers, or it’s being used as a last resort when younger customers can’t find a solution anywhere else. That means telephony needs to be an efficient channel because customers contacting you here may already have tried to contact you somewhere else or failed to find their own solution online. For now, telephony is still an important channel, but it needs to be just as effective as webchat or social media if it’s going to cater to all customers.
Webchat
Webchat is similar to telephony in terms of it’s speed. It provides a dynamic conversation that can produce quick results for the customer. But, unlike telephony, it offers the possibility of automation with the arrival of virtual assistants. Automating webchats means that operators don’t have to deal with data gathering at the beginning of the interaction, giving them more time to focus on a speedy resolution and offering fantastic service. And, on top of that, automating means webchats can become more streamlined than traditional methods like telephony; operators can handle multiple chats at once without harming the customer experience, thereby increasing your efficiency and saving you money.
Customers want you to automate; according to Business Insider UK, 45% of customers don’t care if they’re talking to a human or a bot as long as their query is resolved quickly and accurately. So that means that around half of your demographic would not only be on board with using automated webchat, they would likely prefer it since it has the potential to be one of the most efficient channels out there.
Social Media
Social Media is a great channel for building a brand image. Customers can use it to leave reviews, both positive and negative, to be viewed by other customers and potential customers. Positive reviews can be highlighted and negative ones provide an opportunity to turn that customer around and prove to others how great the brand is. Social is a slower channel than telephony and webchat but that doesn’t mean operators can be complacent because 67% of customers want an enquiry to be answered in less than 5 minutes over social media. And, on top of that, it’s important to act fast on social since every comment or review is incredibly public.
Of all the channels, social media is the most associated with younger generations. And that isn’t inaccurate; 88% of 18–29 year olds use social media in some form. But, increasingly, social media is being used by almost all ages: 78% of 30–49 year olds and 64% of 50–64 year olds use it, with Facebook being the top choice. For some companies, that might come as a shock. Since social is seen as such a young channel, many companies make the mistake of not investing in it as a customer service channel. Although they may use it to market their brand, they don’t engage with their customers and, since such a large age demographic use social media, that may prove to be a mistake. Out of all the channels, it can be the hardest to navigate but can also reap some of the best rewards for a business.
The slowest of all the channels, email can be seen as stuffy and hyper-formal. It also carries the connotation of poor customer service; emails being ignored for extended periods of time, or emails being lost entirely and never responded to. There can be a lot of obstacles to email, but, like telephony, it’s a staple for practically all businesses and is most certainly not dead. And, despite the new advancements in technology, email is still going strong. According to The Radicati Group, the amount of email users is expected to rise to 4.1 billion worldwide by 2021. So, like telephony, email is experiencing a displacement because of social media and webchat, rather than a decline.
With the technology growth in smartphones, customers increasingly have access to email on their phone so it can be a convenient way to contact a business and reply when it suits the customer — perfect for customers who are always working or busy. That’s why email is perfect for B2B. In fact, 86% of business professionals prefer email for business purposes, meaning it should be the channel of choice for any B2B businesses, especially if most of your contacts occur during normal business hours.
At Gnatta, we always suggest companies should use an omnichannel approach for their customer service. Every channel has its own pros and cons and there is no definitive channel that comes out on top. Although which channels you offer to your customers does depend on their demographics, we’re seeing customers use multiple channels more and more, sometimes even over the course of one interaction. Offering the key channels above means you’ll have a wide array of choices for customers of all demographics and means your company never skips a beat and never leaves a customer disappointed because they can’t call, email, etc. If you’d like to learn more about going omnichannel, why not take a look at our omnichannel whitepaper here?
