What Are Preferred Customer Service Channels? [Research]

Customer service communications have fundamentally changed since the previous decade, and the trends show that digital channels are fighting for leadership regarding customer preferences. Thus, there is a very significant question - what customer service channels are the most preferred by different target audiences and groups? Where should you, as a call center manager, focus on delighting customers and providing them with the most efficient and fast service possible? What are the prospects of self-service channels? 

These and much more questions we are going to answer in this research that is based on open data only. 

Customer service channels preferences 2022-2023 stats: what insights are vital to take into consideration

Source: Statista

Top customer service channels 2022

First of all, let’s state the obvious fact - there are not enough data concerning 2023, as it has just begun. Therefore, we have to use data from 2022 and previous years to understand and analyze the most critical trends regarding customer service channels and customer preferences in choosing a service channel. 

What do we see in the diagram above? First of all, the absolute dominance of email customer service communications over other customer service channels. What are the main characteristics that make email customer communication that popular? First of all, email is a service channel that doesn’t require immediate responses and engagement - the average response time for an email is around 4 hours, and that’s the generally accepted industry standard. Secondly, email is mainly used for business purposes, while personal communication is often provided through different customer contact channels, including messengers and phone calls. 

Secondly, we see the growing popularity of web chats (or live chats). This is the service channel accessible directly from the brand’s website or mobile app and it is also often integrated with a chatbot. Thus, customers may use chatbot self-service options and self-service support to answer common customer questions (especially common questions) or resolve elementary issues, or immediately switch to communication with a human agent. This is also the result of an influential trend for gen Z to avoid direct communication with customer service agents and other company representatives, as well as a result of a wider spread of digital channels and technologies used in the customer service industry. 

Another vital factor is the growing importance of social media platforms as platforms for providing customer service and customer communication regarding sales or other customer interactions. These customer service channels are growing in popularity because of their wider use among gen Z users, as well as the overall growth of the number of social media platforms. There is also an important fact concerning social networks as a service channel: they also gather the self-service capabilities of chatbots (Facebook Messenger, other messenger apps, chabots run by AI (Artificial Intelligence), and also, they are a kind of open community where customers can not only seek assistance, but share customer experiences, customer feedback, evaluate the products and brands, communicate with other users of the product, and share other types of content regarding the brand. Thus, social media are multifunctional and they are also a place where users spend a lot of time. 

We have to spend a little more time researching social media stats, as it is one of the fastest-growing digital trends in the world since early 2010-s. First of all, let’s state that in 2021, only 4.26 billion people were using social media. As of 2023, there are 4.76 billion users , and this is a growth of 11,7% in two years, with the estimated number of users at 6 billion in 2027 . Average social network users spend around 2 hours and 31 minutes per day surfing social networks in 2023, and this is around 2% growth compared to 2022. Furthermore, over 25% of all social media users are at age of 18-29 years old. 

Thus, as Gen Z is growing and becoming more independent, their purchasing power increases too. This means that all future and even current trends and tendencies in the customer service industry are defined by Gen Z buyers, and this is the starting point for understanding why customer service channels are moving to digital platforms. 

Finally, phone calls, our most loved traditional channels in pair with emails. It is surprising that they are placed in fourth place based on popularity, but we have to mention that the above-mentioned research shows what customer contact channels are preferred by customers to reach out to brands, while our topic is more focused on customers service channels than customer contact channels that are used for all other reasons besides customer service communications. Nonetheless, the trend for customer calls popularity reduction is unstoppable and we have to understand the main reasons for this trend. 

Source: https://www.business2community.com/social-media-articles/customer-service-teams-low-expectations-social-01147718

This diagram shows the predictions made by business executives in 2015 about the customer requests volume segmented by channels. Isn’t that shocking how things changed in the last few years? Almost 60% of all customer communication was predicted to be provided via phone calls, while now phone calls are preferred for around 30% of people - two times lower than 8 years ago! There are three main reasons why customers hate calling contact centers: long on-hold times , poor call routing capabilities that push clients to repeat their issues , and poorly designed IVR systems. All these problems are widely spread, and it is much easier to find a call center that has all these problems, than one that has none. And now it is clear why digital communication channels are more and more popular - your customer support team can’t put a customer on hold in a live chat, as well as you can’t use the IVR via email. 

Text messages are also showing stable growth from year to year, but anyhow, they are still the least adored customer service channel in the US (yeah, most of the research we use is based on data received from US respondents). 

Why is the phone calls customers channel more popular for customer service issues resolution?

Now, when we are done with customer communication channels, let’s move to customer service channels as the channels are used for service-providing purposes only. 

As the following diagram from Statista shows, for customer service channels the dominance of phone calls can’t be doubted. 

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/818566/preferred-channels-customer-service-issues-united-states/

We also have to define what is meant by “digital channels” - they include web chat (online chat), social media, and text messaging (if it is not about SMS though). As you can see, almost half of the customer service issues are preferred to be solved using phone calls. Why is it so? 

First of all, people still consider phone calls the fastest and the most effective way to resolve problems. It is absolutely clear that there is no faster way to reach out to a human agent and explain the issue than to do it via the so-called “voice service channel”. And what are the voice customer service channels? Phone calls and video conferencing. As video calls (video chats) aren’t still very popular for processing customer service problems and are mostly used in B2B (it is still a question whether they will be ever used in B2C or not), phone calls are the only worldwide accessible customer support channels. Call channels are the only customer service channel that may be not loved, but the only option if the speed of issue resolution is important for a customer. Call channels allow customers to engage with a real person in real-time, almost live personal communication, and it’s obvious that it is much easier to explain all the details concerning the issue during a call than to write down all the details in a text message. Remember what we always say about the four main components of customer experience (CX)? So, customer effort is one of those four - and it is maybe one of the most vital ones. Call channels reduce customer effort in describing the issue and getting real-time service, while web chat or text messaging can’t provide the same level of customer engagement and emotional sentiment as call customer channels do. As we have already mentioned, emails are answered within 4 hours after receiving them on average, while for phone calls customer channels, the service level is often set using an “80/20” industry standard. This standard can be decoded as “80 percent of calls should be answered within first 20 seconds after the client has started dialing”. It’s obvious that emergency issues can’t wait for 4 hours before an agent will answer them, as well as web chat requires a customer to explain the issue in text which is time-consuming, effortful, and can’t be as comprehensive as voice communication. 

Source: https://www.getapp.com/resources/most-preferred-customer-service-channels/

Here is also another research that provides us with a bit of different data - here we see that phone calls are in less favor than web chats, but the number of respondents is 267 people only, so we can’t take it as ultimate truth. Moreover, this is data regarding 2020. What is more important - the same researchers state that between 2017 and 2019 the number of people who named web chat as their preferred customer service channel grew from 13% to 43%. 

So, what is the conclusion? First of all, let’s say that the role of phone calls as a main customer service channel is reducing, but still, it is one of the most important customer contact channels, especially if we talk of it as of customer service channel. The highest growth in popularity has been shown by social media channels and web chats, as well as text messaging is also growing in popularity but it isn’t still the most popular customer contact channel. 

What is the future of customer service channel preferences?

The collected data is the source of information for our analysis, but it can only show us what we have for today. But what about the future? Communication with customers is a well-known priority for any business - no matter whether it is a B2B firm or B2C. Furthermore, there are also different types of customer service channels that are gaining popularity and others that aren’t still popular but can become so in the near future. No matter the service channel, customer service should focus on delighting customers and providing positive customer experiences. But why do we repeat those obvious statements?

Well, there is a big dissimilarity between what experts say about customer expectations and customer experience and what should you invest in. Implementation of new customer service channels may be a big investment, not because of money but because of the time and effort spent on it. So, our goal is to try to forecast and predict customer expectations and preferences regarding customer channels that will define the future rules in the customer service industry. 

So, let’s look at the stats we can access for free to analyze and make decisions. 

• 35% of businesses around the world are going to increase their investments in multichannel or omnichannel customer service, including adding new customer service channels for use;
• 45% of customers have begun to use digital customer service channels more within the last year;
• 41% of sales executives are noticing higher use of digital customer support channels, especially if compared to pre-pandemic period;
• 40% of buyers considered “various communication options (customer support channels)” as the most important characteristic of excellent customer service;
• 40% of buyers expect companies to provide as fast service as possible, including real-time assistance;
• 40% of buyers use at least three customer support channels on a regular basis. 
• 68% of consumers want to get a consistent customer experience. 

What can we understand from these insights? 

First of all, you have to understand one thing - investing in omnichannel or multichannel customer support channels service isn’t an option anymore, it is a must-have feature for your business. Most companies have already understood this trend and allocated their budgets to this. Secondly, the pandemic wasn’t a cause of the digital customer contact channels' popularity boost, but it was a highly influential factor in switching to digital communication. Customers' channel choice will be defined by many factors, but the most important trend is digital transformation, so the channel supports digital communication will be the preferred service channel for clients in the future. People also prefer fast service, so such a service channel as a chatbot with an option to switch to a live chat will be a more appropriate service channel than phone calls or emails.

Phone calls are the channel supports clients the most for 2023, but the role of phone calls will be slowly decreasing. Nonetheless, phone calls will be a vital service channel, especially if call center managers are able to deal with the above-mentioned complex issues, including long on-hold times, numerous call transfers, and poorly developed IVR (Interactive Voice Response) software systems. Communication with customers can also gain new forms, for instance, video calls (video chats), online communities, comprehensive knowledge bases, and online forums may become popular service channel for complicated issues in B2B business - it is a great way to build rapport and show customer care and personalized service. 

A vital part of the future of customer communication is consistent customer service, which means customers can switch between any service channel precisely during the conversation without losing progress. Thus, multichannel communication with such an option is a fundamental part of further customer service improvement. 

Therefore, customer service is changing faster than we could have expected a few years ago. Digital technologies are conquering the world, and the only thing we can do about that is to adapt and use them to improve customer satisfaction levels and exceed customer expectations. Customer service channels definition are also changing - they are no more about customer service only, but also about cross-sales and up-sales, getting additional information, educational materials, personalized messages, communication at any stage of the customer journey, and so on. Customers and brands now have many more touchpoints than ever before, and it is the biggest opportunity for businesses to earn more and improve customer retention and customer loyalty. 

What are other customer service stats to take into consideration?

Our goal is to not only understand what customers' channel preferences will rule the world for the next decade but to find out what are the main tendencies in customer behavior we have to pay attention to. The service channel customer service uses is only one of the tactics to provide service, but the issue is that customer experience is now much more about post-purchase service than about the product alone. This means that if your product or service is the best on the market, but your competitors have overcome you in fields of customer service and customer care, you will definitely lose the competition. 

We’ll provide some real stats to prove this statement:

• 70% of the entire customer experience is about customer care;
• 61% of customers will flee to your competitor if experience only one negative experience;
• 12 positive buyer experiences it takes to make up one bad experience;
• 1 from 10 buyers will forgive bad customer service;
• 90% of customers want you to provide an immediate response (10 minutes or less);
• 4 times more likely it is to leave the company for customers who experience service-based problems compared to product-based problems;

As you can see, negative customer service experiences will cause massive customer churn, which means it will cause huge financial losses to your business, at least because customer acquisition costs from 5 to 25 times more than customer retention. Thus, ignoring the importance of customers nowadays can cost you your brand reputation and financial stability. In other words, taking care of your existing customers is now a priority that is bigger than customer acquisition. This does not mean that you have to stop all your measures in field of customer acquisition and finding new clients, but it means that such an important part of your customer service strategy as an omnichannel service platform release should be implemented as soon as possible. 

How to implement all the customer service channels and keep pace with the trends?

As you can guess, for the implementation of all customer service channels that would be integrated into a single interface with powerful data collection capabilities and the opportunity to track the work of customer service agents, you need an ultimate software solution. 

First of all, it is the way to build a multichannel customer service platform and provide your customers with all customer service channels available. Secondly, it is the way to build an all-in-one working environment for your employees, who will be able to provide customer service, run telemarketing campaigns and measure customer sentiment in single interface. Finally, this is also the way to optimize operational efficiency and operation costs, because the setup of cloud-based call center software is much cheaper than on-premises solutions, and it also offers more integration and scalability opportunities. 

Such a solution is a VoIPTime Cloud Contact Center that includes all the features you need for multichannel customer service:

• Intelligent call routing with different modes 
• Call monitoring in three modes
• Call recording
• Web chats and chatbots
• Real-time statistical dashboards for every single channel of communication
• CRM system and other third-party software integration via API
• All customer service channels you need with consistent customer service option