Today’s independent consumer is more in tune with self-service options than ever before. In fact, our time-starved society is driven by self-service. Think of the typical grocery shopping experience. First we go online to check our bank balance, and then we drive by the ATM to pull out money. At times we even evade the grocery clerk when we ultimately check out by taking advantage of the self-check lane.
But data shows customers are still on the fence when it comes to mobile self-service options. Social CRM and mobile care providers take note – many cellular customers are willing to take advantage of these features but tend to gravitate toward a live representative for customer service because they are not aware of social CRM and mobile care options, or they don’t feel these options deliver the desired level of service.
The implementation of social CRM and mobile care solutions can greatly reduce a provider’s costs. To achieve a warmer reception from customers, however, companies will need to convince their clients that they can still deliver a self-service experience comparable to what they have grown accustomed to over the phone.
MobileAware (News - Alert), a company that helps wireless providers deploy effective social CRM and mobile care self-service options conducted a survey of over 1000 mobile users throughout the U.S., UK, and France to gauge opinions of self-care. Here’s what they found out: only about half of people surveyed even know their provider offers self-care service options, and those who do know aren’t using it.
The company published an article on their findings, that included the fact that less than 20 percent regularly use the service and 33 percent say that they haven’t even given it a try. What’s interesting is that about a quarter of respondents say they would be inclined to use self-service social CRM and mobile care solutions as their go-to source for service if they encountered an equivalent experience to what they already receive from websites, contact centers, and other channels.
At present, however, 75 percent still prefer to speak to a live agent or utilize Web-based customer service options. Only a mere 2 percent of those surveyed stated that mobile self-service was their primary source for addressing customer service concerns.
The good news is that many customers are receptive to the idea of mobile self-care. In fact, 37 percent of survey participants stated that they would contact the call center less if their provider supplied a dependable, full-service mobile self-care application.
According to MobileAware’s CEO, Armin Gebauer, a couple of key issues need to be addressed if companies want to promote their mobile self-service option as the preferred method of receiving customer support. Customers need to be educated about the apps existence, and providers need to augment their self-service experience by providing better features inherent to other channels.
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Edited by Stefanie Mosca