Global Survey Reveals That 83% of Consumers State a Need for Some Form of Support During Their Online Shopping Journey

LivePerson, Inc., a provider of intelligent engagement solutions, announced the release of the Connecting with Customers Report—a comprehensive global study examining the trends in online attitudes and behaviors of consumers in six different countries. The report revealed that 83% of consumers state that they need some form of support during their online journey, and 59% of consumers would like more options in how they connect with brands.

The report highlights key trends in online spending and online customer experience expectations. According to this study, 40% of consumers are now spending as much online as they do in store. Furthermore, 71% of online consumers expect to be able to access help when purchasing online within five minutes and 51% will give up immediately or after just one attempt to seek help before an online purchase is abandoned. In addition, the research underlying the report indicates that 93% see real-time help as beneficial when shopping online and 31% will take their business elsewhere unless help is accessible immediately.

Key findings from the Connecting with Customers Report include:

-- Speed of abandonment: 71% of visitors expect to be able to access help within five minutes when purchasing online, while 31% expect this help to be immediate. If this support wasn't forthcoming within their expected time frame, 48% state they would go elsewhere or abandon the purchase altogether – with the highest abandonment speed in the UK (58%) and lowest in Italy (39%).  

-- Online customer service expectations: Globally 83% of online users indicate that they need some form of support during their online journey, and 59% of global users would like to have more choice in how they contact online brands, expressing interest in real-time channels such as live chat (57%), click-to-call (34%), and live video chat (7%).  When asked what makes a great customer service experience, the top three factors identified by consumers were getting an issue resolved quickly (82%), getting an issue resolved in a single interaction (56%) and dealing with a friendly customer service representative (45%).

-- Real-time differentiator: 93% of consumers see real-time help as being beneficial during their online customer journey, whether it's before, during or after their purchase process. 51% stated that they were more likely to purchase from a website if they could get answers via live chat, with particular demand for this channel in Italy (60%), the US (56%) and Australia (52%).   Globally, 48% of consumers indicated that they are more likely to return to a website if live help is available.

More information on service, support and CRM can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

Businesses that Capitalize on Consumer Behavior Change are Better Positioned to Outperform Economic Growth, Finds Accenture

Global businesses that capitalize on major changes in consumer behavior can generate significant growth over the next few years, according to a new report from Accenture. 

The report, entitled “Energizing Global Growth: Understanding the Changing Consumer,” concludes that companies able to capitalize on these changes with speed and agility could capture a portion of the trillions of dollars in growth that businesses globally are likely to see over the next few years as the result of changing consumer behaviors. Accenture estimates that just 20 sectors most associated with these changes are set to enjoy growth of US$2.4 trillion by 2016.

The report is based on four individual studies: an online survey of 10,000 consumers in 10 countries across five continents; a survey of 600 business executives in those same 10 countries; an assessment of the world’s top 3,000 listed companies by market capitalization and their revenue growth compared with the industry averages over various timeframes; and a macroeconomic analysis conducted in conjunction with Oxford Economics to assess the impact of changing consumer behavior. 

Among the key changes in consumer behavior the report identified:

-- Consumers are increasingly “connected” – often online, interacting with companies and other consumers to research and purchase products, share advice, and praise or criticize a business. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the consumers surveyed said they use the Internet to research or purchase products or services more than they did three years ago. Consumers are also increasingly using social media as a tool in the purchasing process. 

-- Consumers are increasingly “demanding” – seeking products and services customized to meet their specific needs. Approximately two-thirds of consumers surveyed said that it is important to be able to buy what they want when they want it (68 percent) and to be able to customize the product or service to be exactly what they want (63 percent).   

-- Consumers are increasingly “conscientious” – seeking sustainable goods and services, they are focused on where and how their products are made and on doing business with companies that make a positive social and/or environmental impact. Half (51 percent) of consumers surveyed said they consider the environmental impact of the product or manufacturer before purchasing a product more often than they did three years ago.

-- Accenture also found that while nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of business executives said that consumer behavior has changed markedly in the last three years, a similar proportion (74 percent) said they do not fully understand the consumer changes that are under way – and even more (80 percent) said they believe that their companies are not taking full advantage of the opportunities these changes present. 

More information on CRM can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

Call Centers Find Social Media Best Used for 'Damage Control', See Overall Increase in Customer Satisfaction

In its annual Call Center Satisfaction Index (CCSI), CFI Group, a customer satisfaction measurement technology and analytics firm, reported that call centers are rapidly transforming into contact centers -- incorporating the Web, email, and other sources -- and that social media play an important role in raising customer satisfaction and likely recommendations.

For the sixth straight year, CFI Group has surveyed recent users of customer service functions to analyze the factors that impact satisfaction with call centers. The 2012 survey, involving more than 2,300 participants, found that "non-call" service methods, such as email, Web self-service, chat and other online techniques, now account for more than 30 percent of customer service engagements.

The survey revealed that Web self-service and email dominate the non-phone-call mix of contact channels, but social media are playing a critical role. That role is not as a first-line service channel but rather as a "damage control" mechanism. Customers who posted their experience with a contact center in social media and then received subsequent follow-up via social media concerning their experience rated their final satisfaction with the contact center experience nearly 20 percent higher than those who received no follow-up. Furthermore, consumers who ranked their likelihood to recommend the company in these cases increased by almost 15 percent.

As the way we communicate with each other continues to evolve, social media is quickly becoming the dominant force in customer buzz. In general, people shared their experience with others 47 percent of the time within the 2012 CCSI sample, up from 45 percent of the time in 2011. Of these people that shared, a full 91 percent of them used social media in some form to do their sharing. Facebook dominated the social media channels, representing 33 percent of the "sharing volume."

The 2012 study also addresses the practice of offshoring and its gradual decline. The 2012 CCSI study shows that 9 percent of call centers are offshoring, compared to its peak in 2008 at 15 percent. CFI Group found that while offshoring as a percentage is decreasing, satisfaction with offshore centers have grown by 20 percent.

Call centers of all types have resumed slow but steady improvements in satisfaction scores after a slight dip in 2011. Key drivers of satisfaction contributed across the board to this overall increase in satisfaction, to a score of 77 on a 100-point scale, with no single driver accounting for a disproportionate amount of the increase.

The most improved satisfaction index scores in 2012 compared to the previous year were for companies in banking, property and casualty insurance, and retail, each of which recovered from a decline in 2011. The only drop in satisfaction among the areas studied was a one-point dip in the personal computer sector.

More information about social media and call centers can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

Brands Miss Opportunities Online

Brands and retailers lose opportunities for sales, referrals and stronger, more loyal customer relationships when online shoppers are left with difficulty getting answers to questions, concludes a national study conducted by The Adcom Group for VirtualHold Technology. But shoppers say they will promote brands that offer them help, the study shows.

Shoppers say their online purchase experience affects their product reviews (78 percent), satisfaction with the product (66 percent) and impression of the retailer (64 percent). A majority would purchase more products from a website that allows them to click or tap to receive an immediate or scheduled callback from a person qualified to answer questions or solve online purchase problems. More than 90 percent say they would be somewhat or much more likely to shop on such a website, and some indicate they would even pay more for products sold there.

More information on customer relationships can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

13 Customer Experience Trends to Watch in 2013

2012 was a very active year for customer experience management. According to Bruce Temkin of the Temkin Group, 2013 will be an even more robust year as we move deeper into the Era of Customer Experience (CX) Professionalism. Here are 13 CX trends to keep an eye on this year as these efforts gain maturity:

1. Decline of surveys.
   
2. Rise of text analytics.
3. “Big data” predictive insights
   
4. Anticipatory service.    
   
5. Experience-infused product development.     
6. Design-based process improvement.    
7. Loyalty-focused contact centers.    
   
8. Appreciation of employee assets.
   
9. Mobile, mobile, mobile.
   
10. Software as an Experience.
    
11. Resurgence of values.           
12. Rethinking risk-experience trade-offs.
    
13. Continuing CX education.

More information on CRM can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

Executives Looking For Better Access To Mobile Device And Social Networking Data

A large number of companies have adopted a data analytics strategy to better leverage in-house information, but management teams don't seem to have the right access to marketplace data needed to make strategic decisions, says a new survey from KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm.

More than 60 percent of respondents to a KPMG survey taken during Oracle OpenWorld, said their organization has a defined data and analytics strategy. However, only 39 percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that senior management had access to the rising volume of data gathered from the marketplace necessary to predict the needs of their customers. This "unstructured" data is typically generated by customers, vendors and analysts over websites, by mobile device users, and via social networking.

As a result, senior management remains increasingly challenged to analyze current data and to act meaningfully on the results, according to 45 percent of more than 370 executives surveyed during the IT conference. In addition, more than one-quarter of respondents said their major challenge has been dealing with data raining in from other sources.

The old conventions for measuring, managing and monitoring a business—as well as assuring the quality of its data—will be stressed to new extremes as speed, the need for trustworthy information and machine learning continue to influence the marketplace. 

 Further, 29 percent of respondents said advances in data and analytics would fundamentally change their business or industry in the next five years. Forty-two percent of respondents said data and analytics would have an important impact in several areas of their industry or business, though more than one-third (36 percent) of those questioned said it will be at least one to three years before their company can implement a data and analytics strategy that allows predictive insights into the market.

 Other findings included:

-- Forty-five percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that data analysis was on their board of directors' agenda.

-- Forty-five percent of those surveyed said their company tends of focus more on data security than on using data to improve core business operations.

More information on Mobile Device And Social Networking Data can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

Consumers of the Future Value Self-service and Personalization

The consumer of the future will be more mobile, social and self-sufficient, willing to share details on themselves and their preferences in exchange for highly personalized relationships with their favorite stores, according to a new IBM consumer survey.  The study also found that consumers’ willingness to advocate for a particular retailer is becoming multi-faceted, with consumers looking for a flawless experience, whether it’s when they’re researching, purchasing, or receiving delivery.

The findings of the survey of 1,200 U.S. men and women ages 13 to 60 provide insights into the demands of the next generation buying audience and highlight the areas where retailers could influence brand advocacy.

Today's teenagers say they spend their time shopping on their mobile devices whether they are at home, on the move or in-store.  They also prefer to use more self-service features than today's consumers and participate in communities and forums via social networks with consumers with similar interests.  Teens expect their retailers to know them and all their transactions and deliver ads and promotions to them through social networking sites.

The study compared consumers aged 13 – 19, or “digital natives,” with today’s current shoppers, respondents in the 40-49 year old group.  The survey found the digital natives to be:

·         Almost four times as likely to consider it important for a retailer to provide a mobile app to use on their smartphone or tablet (52 versus 14 percent)

·         Twice as likely to consider it important for a retailer to establish a forum for like-minded consumers to share ideas with each other (54 versus 26 percent)

·         Twice as likely to be comfortable receiving ads and promotions from a retailer through a social networking site (64 versus 37 percent)

·         Nearly 1.5 times as likely to consider it important for a retailer to keep track of all that they've purchased from the retailer (regardless of whether it was in the store, online, via the call center, etc.) (67 versus 48 percent)

·         Nearly 1.5 times as likely to consider it important to provide self-service tools they can use in the store (80 versus 63 percent)

The study found that consumers are looking for a consistent brand experience, from start to finish, across all brand touchpoints.  Cost and quality prevailed, where the two most important considerations for recommending a retailer were:  “sells quality merchandise” (94 percent) and “offers fair/competitive prices” (93 percent).   However, three of the next most important criteria were:  the items they want to buy are in stock (91 percent); the retailer delivers a positive overall experience whether it’s in the store, over the Web, or via any combination of channels (90 percent); and that the retailer provides a convenient returns process (85 percent).

In the study, IBM asked a series of questions about the three phases of the brand experience: pre-purchase, purchase (checkout/payment), and post-purchase.  The real surprise in the findings was the importance of the post-purchase process in molding the brand relationship and influencing brand advocacy.  This phase includes product shipment, delivery, installation, customer support, problem resolution and returns. For example, the survey found:

·         Nearly three-quarters of the respondents cited a retailer’s ability to deliver a positive post-purchase experience as important to very important for them to recommend a retailer to others.

·         Nearly double the respondents chose the post-purchase experience as more important than the pre-purchase experience in forming a lasting opinion of a retailer (64 versus 36 percent).  

·         The post-purchase phase has the greatest potential to damage the brand relationship (46 percent) compared to the purchase and pre-purchase phases (38 and 16 percent, respectively).

·         The post-purchase phase even has the ability to help a retailer recover from a poor pre-purchase experience, with 52 percent of respondents indicating that a positive post-purchase experience is likely to very likely to overcome a poor pre-purchase experience. [For those 13-19, 67 percent consider it likely to very likely to save the day.]

More information on CRM and self-service can be found at www.CRMindustry.com