Messaging apps have the highest customer satisfaction rating of any support channel and their usage has skyrocketed. In fact, the volume of support tickets over WhatsApp alone jumped 101 percent in 2020, according to our 2021 Customer Experience Trends Report. Customers want to interact with companies over the same channels they use with friends and family. And businesses are following suit: 53 percent of companies that launched a new channel in 2020 added messaging.
According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2021, ecommerce rose by 30 percent during the global pandemic, and 64 percent of customers said they used a new digital customer support channel in 2020. Clearly, the pandemic pushed more customers online, ramping up their engagement with companies over dozens of touchpoints.
Doing business with a company that misses the mark on providing a high-quality customer service experience goes a step further than leaving a bad impression; it can keep the customer from ever giving your business a second chance. According to recent research, roughly 73 percent of customers will stop patronizing a company after only three (or fewer) bad customer service experiences. What’s worse is that companies are losing revenue without a chance to find out why.
Instead of making your customers wander through the pages of Google, optimizing your knowledge base will help them find information fast – a huge advantage when it comes to meeting your customers’ needs. If your knowledge base isn't optimized for search engines, you’re losing a large number of potential new customers. Moreover, you’re missing out on the opportunity of enabling your existing customers to self-serve.
In the early 2000s, the thought of companies connecting with customers over instant messaging would have seemed ludicrous. But in 2021? That’s the norm. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2021, messaging channels like WhatsApp and Facebook are becoming new consumer favorites. Nearly a third of customers said they messaged companies over communication apps for the first time in 2020.
When surveyed, more than half of customer service agents said they usually have to switch between different systems to solve a customer request. Here’s why: When a customer reaches out for support, an agent typically needs a bit of context to fully understand the customer’s situation or problem.
It was months into the pandemic, and we were all stuck inside. Wintertime in Wisconsin can be beautiful, with its snowy scenes and frozen lakes that seem to stretch on forever. But this winter was different. It felt cold, dark, and lonely without any chance of seeing friends and family. After several months of watching movies and baking cookies, I realized I needed a pastime. Something to keep my hands and my mind occupied.
