Customer Service: Social Media vs Telephone Support

In today’s evolving marketplace we have become so brainwashed into using new technology and social media to interact with our customers that we may have lost sight of how significant traditional telephone support is for trade.

Customer service through the voice channel is an incredibly valuable business tool and should not be underestimated. Despite the huge publicity around social media channels, it’s been found that 70% of all complains over social media are ignored, which is a shockingly low interaction rate! In conjunction with this, 63% of UK consumers would still prefer to pick up the phone and speak to an advisor with any customer service queries and 54% of customers want to speak to a real person to deal with their customer support queries.

One-to-one telephone based customer service has a much greater customer satisfaction rate compared to other online customer service channels. Every contact you have with your customers is another chance to build rapport and increase the likelihood of future sales. Check out our video which highlights key statistics which show how telephone based customer service will always come out on top in terms of customer satisfaction.

Statistics and sources:

63% of UK consumers would prefer to call a company or organisations with customer service queries. (UBM)

70% of mobile searchers use Google’s ‘click-to-call’ feature to contact suppliers directly from their mobile devices. Some of the reasons for calling a business as opposed to using a website or other means included:  59% said it was quick to get an answer, 57% like talking to a real person, 54% have further questions and queries and 61% or consumers are ready to purchase! (Google/Ipsos)

70% of all customer complaints on social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter are ignored. (The Drum)

54% of customers want to speak to a real person. (Call Centre Helper)

61% of customers believe that efficient customer service is the most important area of focus. (Econsultancy)

74% of UK adults would change supplier as a result or poor contact centre customer service. (Call Centre Helper)

Just 11% or people expect to actually receive customer service via social media as opposed to 71% via the telephone. (Econsultancy)

In a recent poll, when asked; which budget airline would you prefer to fly with, Ryanair or EasyJet, 7% said Ryainair and 93% said EasyJet – the overwhelming outcome is a result of Ryanair’s mismanaged customer relations, particularly due to the lack of telephone support. (The Guardian)

If your car broke down on the motorway, or your washing machine decided to go kaput; 100% of you would call for help via the telephone before turning to social media.

70% of mobile searchers call companies from search results, so it’s time to focus on the phone! (Yahoo).