More than a third of consumers would gladly live without electricity for a week if the alternative was to live without their smartphones, found a Cisco study. It’s understandable. As WDS points out, every mobile device is an “omnichannel platform with voice, email, webchat, video chat, SMS and social media capabilities”.
Forrester predicts the mobile revolution will only intensify, as 42% of the global population will own at least one smart device by 2016, but should contact centers even care?
How Often Do US Adults Use Mobile Devices for Customer Service?
We took a look at the numbers. Turns out 63% of US adults use mobile devices for non-voice customer service at least several times a month, according to Software Advice’s 2015 report. That means using your app, searching for answers in your website’s support database, or tweeting you a question.
8% of respondents don’t believe they could get help online, but 24% do it several times a week.
It’s Not Just Millennials. Study Finds Surprising Stat on Older Generations’ Mobile Savviness.
77% of 18-24-year-olds and 65% of 25-34-year-olds use their mobile devices to get non-voice customer service more than once a month, says the Software Advice study, and your jaw probably didn’t drop.
But here’s what’s really interesting: Almost 40% of 55-64-year-olds and over 25% of 65+-year-olds do the same, reports the study.
As mobile devices become easier to use, as their screen sizes grow alongside life expectancy, percentages of older citizens seeking support on mobile devices will grow as well.
Customers’ Channel Choices for Non-Voice Support on Mobile
According to Cisco, gen X uses smartphones for calls only 43% of the time, and Gen Y – less than 25%. 67% of professionals use SMS for business communications and over 33% of sales professionals have closed deals this way, reports HeyWire.
Texting works in customer service too, mostly in live chats. According to Software Advice, almost 50% of average and almost a fifth of late tech adopters have used it on mobile.
And social media? Consumers spend more time on that than anything else online, according to the Wall Street Journal, and 60% of that time is spent using mobile devices, says comScore. More importantly, 67% of J.D. Power study’s respondents have used social media to get customer service.
While customers currently get more satisfactory responses when calling a contact center than contacting a company online, WDS predicts that artificial intelligence and customer service automation developments will soon even the scale.
Different customers take different routes to resolution, and they often move through multiple platforms. A company that offers quality service across channels is a company that sets itself to thrive.
[About the author]
Dylon Mills is the Director of Marketing Content Strategy & Development at Uniphore. As such, Dylon’s main responsibilities are to strategize, create and deliver content for Uniphore’s product portfolio that aligns with the global Go-To-Market strategy, corporate positioning, and marketing campaigns. Dylon’s prior work experience includes Product Management at one of the top Fortune 500 Technology companies, Symantec Corporation. Outside of work, Dylon enjoys problem-solving and any project that includes building/tinkering with tools. Dylon holds a BS in Consumer Economics from the University of Georgia.