The Evolution of the Customer Service Experience [INFOGRAPHIC]

A study of more than 8,000 consumers showed that 74 percent of customers use at least three channels when interacting with customer service.

Customer service contact channels are increasing, and customer usage of those channels continue to grow. Data shows that over time, customers will continue to increase the number of contact channels being used as part of the customer experience.

It’s critical that your customer service management strategy is prepared to address customer needs and effectively deliver the type of service customers expect consistently across each of those channels.

The team at Parature compiled this customer service infographic outlining the historical change in how customer service takes place between customers and the enterprises that serve them.

Some things in customer service never change

How is customer service NOT changing? Hold time. Hold times in customer service continue to plague service provider. Interestingly enough, research shows while nearly 50% of customers say they initiated a purchase over the phone, 75% of those customers were placed on hold! Customers looking to purchase and spend don’t like to wait, and when they do, it results is a poor customer service experience.

Wasting your marketing dollars on a customer service wasteland

Customers today are savvy and independent. Customers will often search for what they’re looking for online before ever contacting customer service. But what’s the online customer experience? Lacking. 56% of customers cited that they abandoned a purchase or a Website because of a lack of information about products or services. A huge waste to all the of marketing spending that was used just to get customers to your Web site.

Fast and efficient multi-channel customer service matters

Probably one of my most favorite statistics is that 71% of customers who experience a quick response from a brand on a social media channel are likely to recommend that brand to their online community. I love social media. I use it quite heavily. I think that today’s social media channels have torn down the walls of possible communication between brands and consumers.

Unfortunately, too many organizations haven’t caught the vision of the type of relationships that they could develop with customers if they were more active in connecting and communicating with customers on social media channels. These channels aren’t just for customer service inquiries, but are relationship development tools changing the nature of how customer service is done.