Nearly half of consumers polled say that having to repeat orders, questions, mailing addresses and preferred payment methods to customer service reps at companies at which they have a purchase history is one of the most frustrating aspects of customer service on the web and through other channels, according to a survey by eCRM provider Kana Software Inc. These 45% of customers surveyed found that having a personalized account set up on the web, in a call center or via e-mail made their interaction with the company more beneficial.
The findings highlight the larger issue of what happens when multi-channel companies don’t capture and leverage knowledge across all customer communication points. In fact, 67% of those surveyed said that courtesy, timely responses and personalization across all channels have an impact on their future relationship with a company. Relatively few consumers are finding that companies regularly integrate customer data across multiple channels--42% of those polled said their past interactions with companies across channels were not used by or accessible to the customer service centers.
Yet research has shown that tracing customer history across channels and providing that information in all communication channels is critical to the success of a business. E-commerce sites using technology that capture this information have seen annual revenue increases of as high as 52%, according to recent data from Jupiter Media Metrix.
“We sponsored the survey to identify the expectations of today’s customers relative to personalized service,” says Bud Michael, executive vice president of product and marketing for Kana. “The survey indicates that customers have grown to expect customized service across all communication channels.”
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