Contact Center Industry Stats – Contact Center Channels

 

Over the next few weeks, we will be posting a series related to Contact Center industry statistics. Previously, we discussed statistics related to the organization and customer journey mapping. Below, you will find Call Center Statistics related to the various Contact Center channels. In the next of this series, we will be discussing Contact Statistics related to the various technologies within the Call Center.

85% of organizations anticipate contacts will become more complex in the next 2 years (Deloitte)

Multi-channel and Omnichannel:

92% of organizations that view customer experience as a differentiator offer multiple contact channels (Ameyo)

Research shows that 74% of customers are using 3 or more channels to access customer service (Ameyo). This statistic encourages the need and importance of consistency among different channels in the Contact Center. In fact, 44% of millennials surveyed expect their experience to be consistent across all device. 60% said that they expect the same experience across all customer touch points.

Almost 86% of today’s centers are multi-channel. (Ameyo)

Omni-channel service should be offered at any time on any device: 66% of consumers use 3 or more channels (Microsoft). Less than 3% of companies are deploying omni-channel while 97% of companies say they are investing in omni-channel.

Leveraging an Omni-Channel strategy can drive Customer Loyalty by delivering consistent customer service regardless of the channel of interaction. This also supports differentiated service for different customer segments and customer journeys. Omni-channel is a highly effective tool to support CX, customer centricity, CSAT, retention and loyalty.

 

Inbound vs. Outbound:

A little more than 40% of Contact Centers Blend Inbound and Outbound Calls (Call Centre Helper).

It is important to see the pros and cons associated with each of these strategies without blinders and without succumbing to political correctness or the current flavor of the day.

 

Voice:

Gartner predicts that by 2020 a customer will manage 85% of the relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human. (Fonolo)

58% of callers have visited the website before calling.

More than 60% of problem resolution involves a Contact Center interaction with a live agent

Although customers want multiple options when it comes to communicating with an organization, voice still remains the most critical and predominant channel. (Ameyo) indicated phones still handle around 68% of all Contact Center communications while (Capterra) indicated 74% of respondents have contacted customer service by phone—email is the next most popular channel at 62%. Both statistic demonstrate the importance of the voice channel within the Contact Center.

Phone is the customer service channel used most in the US, more often than email, in-person, live chat, mobile app, self-service, search engine, social media, online community, text message, or Chatbot. (Capterra)

Phone is expected to account for 47% of contacts in 2019 compared to 64% in 2017(Deloitte)

96% of C&IP executives expect contact volume to remain constant or increase in the coming 2 years (Deloitte)

First Contact Resolution (FCR):

A 1% improvement in first Call Response = $276,000 in annual operational savings for the average Call Center (Ameyo) Improving First Contact Resolution (FCR) is viewed as the greatest benefit of interaction analytics.

Contact Center professionals view improved FCR as the greatest benefit of interaction analytics, with 43.9% of the vote. (Call Centre Helper)

Call Scripting: More Contact Centers Are Using Call Scripting:

While Contact Centers are often encouraged to give advisors more freedom on the phone, there has been a contradictory increase in those using call scripting.

In fact, the percentage of Contact Centers using call scripting has risen from 48.3% to 52.9% – a rise of almost 5%. (Call Centre Helper)

Voice of Customer (VOC):

The most common way of measuring the VOC is to survey customers and advisors, as almost half (48.5%) of Contact Centers do.

Random monitoring of recorded calls is the second most popular way of measuring VOC, and is used by 30.2% of Contact Centers.

While surveys and random monitoring are by no means flawless VOC measurements, these techniques will give greater insight than simply relying on the complaints department, which 6.9% of Contact Centers still do.

Spreadsheets Are Still the Most Common Way to Produce Metrics. Over two-thirds of Contact Centers (67.7%) are still using spreadsheets to produce metric results and provide key performance insights into the life of the Contact Center. (Call Centre Helper)

Frustrations in the Voice Channel: 

34% of consumers say the most frustrating aspect of a customer service experience is, “Automated Telephone System (IVR)/inability to reach a live person for customer support.” (Capterra)

89% of customers get frustrated because they need to repeat their issues to multiple representatives

84% of consumers are frustrated when the agent does not have information.

 

Self Service:

90% of respondents expect brands to offer an online portal for self service (Microsoft)

Web and mobile self-service interactions overtake all other channels. For the second year running, survey respondents reported using web or mobile self-service more than speaking with an agent over the phone. (Forrester)

By 2020 self-service tools will be tailored to help customers solve problems by themselves. Solutions such as live chat, social media support, and online communities will provide a more consistent and personalized customer experience.

90% of consumers now expect a brand or organization to offer a self-service customer support portal

Gartner reports that improving the self-service experience of consumers is among the top 3 priorities for companies that aim to improve customer experience and service.

60% of consumers view a brand with a mobile-responsive self-service option more favorably than one that doesn’t. (Fonolo)

By 2020, the customer will be able to maintain 85% of the relationship with a company, without interacting with a human. (Fusion)

 

Online:
75% of consumers use search engines to find answers to service related questions before calling the voice channel. This encourages the importance of Effective Knowledge Management. Use of help or FAQs on a company’s website increased from 67% in 2012 to 81% in 2015 among US online adults.(Forrester)

45% of consumers will abandon an online transaction (switching to Voice) if their questions or concerns are not addressed quickly. (Ameyo)

53% of US online adults are likely to abandon their online purchase if they can’t find a quick answer to their question; 73% say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good online customer service.(Forrester)

A Customer Knowledge Base Is Now a Common Contact Center Practice
One technology that has seen a large increase in implementation is the Contact Center’s knowledge base.

In 2016, 68.6% of Contact Centers reported to have installed such technology, a figure that has risen to 75.6 in just a single year. This perhaps coincides with the increased focus on personalizing the customer experience within the industry. (Call Centre Helper)

 

Social Media:

While social media may not be a popular choice when it comes to customer service, it can have a big impact on how customers perceive your brand.

When companies engage and respond to customer service requests over social media, those customers end up spending 20% to 40% more money with the company. (Bain & Company)

Failure to respond via social channels can lead to a 15% increase in the churn rate. (Source)

52% say Facebook is the most effective social channel for customer service. Twitter follows at 25%, then LinkedIn at 8%. (Salesforce)

59% of 25-34 year-olds share poor customer experiences online.

Social media channels handle just 3% of all customer communications.(Ameyo)

66% expect a response on social media within 24 hours (Microsoft)

Social media will account for 9% of total Contact Center contacts in 2019 (Deloitte)

 

Digital Channel:

In 2016, The Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report outlined that 42% of all customer interactions had become digital.

Less Than a Fifth of Contact Centers Are an Integral Part of Digital Transformation Efforts. (Call Centre Helper)

Only 18.3% of Contact Centers considered that they were an integral part of corporate digital transformation efforts.

It has been predicted that as Contact Center leaders begin to catch on to the importance of user-friendly online customer experiences, digital channel planning is set to increase over the next year as follows (IBM):

Web chat: 44.3% to 81.1%
Mobile apps: 41.6% to 75.45%
Social media: 51.4% to 76.1%

Contact Centers Are Often Ignored During Digital Transformation Efforts

Less than a fifth of our participants consider their Contact Center to be an integral part of corporate digital transformation efforts, 18.3% to be exact.

In fact, almost 14% confessed that their organization has never involved or even consulted their Contact Center in the process, despite the potential knock-on impact on operations. (Call Centre Helper)

 

Video:

31% of organizations expect to be using video chat in 2019 years for an average of 8% of their interactions. (Deloitte)

More than 100 of the 500 largest global businesses will introduce video-based chat by 2018. (Gartner)

Mobile Applications:

Through 2018, the lack of support in mobile applications will lower customer satisfaction rates by 5%. (Ameyo)

A great deal of e-commerce is moving to the mobile platform. 47% of millennials said they regularly make purchased on their mobile devices (CX Network)

Web Chat/ Live Chat:

Web chat Is on Course to Be the Next Mainstream Channel. Over 40% of Contact Centers reported that webchat was going to be the next channel that they would implement (Call Centre Helper)

Chat has the ability to significantly boost sales and build repeat customers:

• 38% of online consumers said they had made their purchase decisions due to a chat session
• 20% increase in shopping cart size with chat engagement
• 63% of online consumers said they were more likely to return to a website that offers live chat
• 92% of consumers are satisfies or very satisfies with the experience when they hatted on a mobile device (CX Network)