Some surprising findings have been released from [24]7’s Customer Engagement Index, focused on better illustrating how customers today interact with brands.
The self-service technology company conducted a survey of nearly 1,200 respondents in the U.S., focusing on how each individual chooses to interact with brands to solve issues and answer their inquiries.
The [24]7 Customer Engagement Index shines a light on a few key issues for businesses.
- That the website is still the most important asset a brand has, with 89% of consumers turning to the website within the first two channels, including 64% in the first channel.
- Despite the 330 million connected mobile devices in the U.S, 49% of respondents still depend on their PC as their primary device for service. In comparison, only 24% prefer to start a customer journey on their smartphone.
- 95% of consumers noted they require a third customer channel in order to solve inquiries or issues.
- Email is no longer seen as a viable channel for customer service. In fact none of the surveyed respondents in the U.S. selected email as their preferred first or second channel in their omnichannel journey.
- When it comes to assistance, customers still prefer to make a phone call, with 32% noting it as their second channel of choice, However as more brands adopt chat technology, have followed suit with 16% selecting the tool as their preferred second channel.
