Today’s world of customer service—filled with digital and self-service channels like Web chat, co-browsing, SMS and in-store kiosks—looks entirely different than it did decades ago when customer service was characterized by a person-to-person experience, be it in-person or over the phone. The findings of a new survey conducted by J.D. Power, however, show that there is still a desire for that human touch, despite the surge of digital channels, especially when it comes to their banking experience.
Customers cited a number of reasons for preferring this human interaction, from being able to enjoy a face-to-face conversation to feeling safer with a human being processing their request.
For example, one survey respondent explained, “I like the personal touch of actually going in and talking to someone. Something larger like an actual paycheck I prefer to actually go inside and talk to the people there. It feels safer because phones, technology these days, [have] made things easier but [they have] made things a lot less secure.”
Even if your company doesn’t operate in the banking industry, the findings of this study should be telling for your customer service strategy, especially within the contact center. The 21st Century contact center is inundated with digital service channels like email, text and Web chat that do not require the intimate touch of a human being—like hearing the tone of a person’s voice while partaking in a conversation over the phone.
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