All customers are not created equal – at least when it comes to the channels they prefer to use for customer service, according to new findings from Forrester Research Inc. Data from Forrester’s Consumer Technographics 2004 North American Benchmark Study show that the biggest users of online chat as a way to connect with customer service are males below the age of 34, and that for both genders, the use of chat drops significantly after age 65.
Only 14.1% of online consumers use chat to reach customer service, and only 1.4% use it to do so more than once a week, Forrester found. 15.5% of males under the age of 25 used chat, while 25.5% of those aged 25 to 34 did so. The use of chat among males for customer service dropped to 12.2% among those aged 45-54. Among females, 13% of those aged 25 or less, 13.1% of those aged 25-34 and 13% of those aged 25-44 used live chat to access customer service. The use of chat started to decline in the 45- to 54-year-old age group among women; only 12.1% used chat for customer service.
By contrast, Forrester found that more than half of consumers—54.3%—reported using e-mail to contact customer service, with 6.3% doing so at least once a week. The largest number using e-mail fell between the ages of 25 and 54, for both males and females.
Among males, 6.9% of those aged 25 and under used e-mail at least once a week to contact customer service, while 7.9% of those aged 25-34, 5.9% of those aged 35-44 and 7.2% of those aged 45-54 did so.
Among females, 7.7% used e-mail to reach customer service at least once a week, as did 6.7% of those aged 25-43, 6.6% of those aged 35-44, and 7% of those aged 45- 54. As with chat, the most significant drop in the use of e-mail for customer service, for both genders, is among consumers older than 65.
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