FEATURE


British businesses failing to keep up with


customer’s contactability expectations By: Chris Robinson, CEO at Yonder Digital Group


In a world where consumers are connected 24/7 thanks to ubiquitous internet connections and a range of available portable devices which are used to communicate, it comes as no surprise that consumers expect to get in touch with a brand just as easily as they Snapchat their friends or Tweet to their followers. Of course, each customer or prospect will have their own preferred method of contact when engaging with a business – for example, web research for information, telephone for query-resolution or email for a more generic question. However it is important for businesses to ensure that they offer a range of contact points, as indicated by Yonder Digital Group’s research which shows that 84%1


easily and rapidly so queries can be dealt with before they defect to a competitor. The first step for businesses is to ensure


that customers can easily find a method to contact them (as well as a range of options to do so) as soon as a query arises. Guaranteeing this level of ‘contactability’ to make sure queries are resolved in a timely fashion means businesses need to ensure that enough multichannel support, with live agent interaction, is provided at critical points along a customer’s journey to purchase. In order to find out the level of contactability


Chris Robinson. of UK


consumers are more likely to stay loyal and increase business with companies that offer a variety of ways to get in touch and particularly, offer live interaction with a real person (87%)2 Earlier independent research commissioned by Yonder


.


Digital Group has confirmed that an overwhelming majority of consumers (81%3


queries aren’t answered quickly and effectively by a company, highlighting how business critical it is to ensure that customers and prospects are able to get in touch with your business


16 www.isopps.com tend to take their business elsewhere if their


among UK businesses, across a range of consumer-facing sectors, Yonder Digital


Group commissioned research canvassing 2,000 UK adults and found that the majority of sectors are falling well short of providing ‘excellent’ contactability to their customers and prospects. Alarmingly the research highlights that no more than a quarter of people rated any sector as excellent, with the majority voted basic or poor by more than half. Online-only retailers came out as the best of a bad


bunch, with only 25% of respondents deeming their ease of contactability as ‘excellent’. Retail banking came in second Continued on page 17


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19