Few Consumers Experience Good Customer Support

Over complicated call management systems, emails that take an age to get a response and a desire for immediate information is driving consumers online to find the answer to their queries - and to a competitor's website if they can't.

These are some of the findings of an independent survey carried out on behalf of Artificial Solutions.

Fuelled by social media and the success of smartphone apps that make finding information faster, customers are demanding the same interactive experience from their favourite brands online.

Here are some of the key findings:

96% of respondents visit a company website first to find an answer to their queries. However, organisations that have not optimised the customer online experience may find themselves losing business.

Crucially, 89% would definitely (26%) or possibly (63%) buy from a competitor if they could not get their queries answered online.

Andy Peart, CMO of Artificial Solutions, said:

"Over 90% of people in the survey said they wanted to access information immediately. Unfortunately for businesses well over half the people found the website's search facilities and FAQs sadly lacking.

"When you consider that 74% said they were more likely to change their mind about a purchase of a product or service after conducting a web
search, it's clear that many organisations are missing out by not providing an adequate service to their customers online."

Three out of four consumers agreed that having an interactive online help facility to enable them to get information or a response immediately would make a big difference in their decision to use to that company.

81% of people said they would engage with an online virtual assistant if it reduced their waiting time. Nearly a third of respondents had already used a virtual assistant and 70% found it helpful.

Currently few consumers are having a good experience with customer support via the web, phone or email. Nearly 80% reported that the length on call pick-up or the wait to get through to the right department was less than good when telephoning a company.

Email fared only slightly better with over 65% complaining about the time taken to respond to questions and the lack of signposting to other help
options.

Overall the survey highlights the consumers need for instant information and their readiness to go online to find it. But when they get there, they
have high expectations as to how easily it should be found and have no problem switching to another company if they can provide the answer.
However, consumers also welcome the use of newer technologies such as virtual assistants that provide a more interactive experience and improve the speed and accuracy of obtaining the information they require.

The survey was carried out by Axiall on behalf of Artificial Solutions. Over 1500 consumers throughout Europe responded to the survey. The full survey can be downloaded here .

About Artificial Solutions

Artificial Solutions is a specialist in the field of Natural Language Interaction (NLI), enabling humans to interact with technology via intelligent, humanlike, two way conversations in their own language across a range of channels using voice or text.

The NLI Engine is typically deployed in three ways; as a software-as-a-service that enables organizations to improve customer experience and reduce the cost of servicing online queries; as virtual sales assistants helping "e-tailers" guide customers through complex product sets, recommending, up- selling and reducing shopping cart dropouts; and as embedded technology on mobile computing devices with apps developed across arange of deployments such as gaming, music or social media.
Info: www.artificial-solutions.com.

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