Editor's introduction: This article introduces us to the research of the "Global Customer Engagement Report", which interviewed 5,000 consumers in 14 countries on four continents to help everyone further understand the impact of COVID-19 on consumers and businesses and their mutual contact. Let’s take a look at the lasting impact.
1. Overview
In 2020, when physical stores and door-to-door services suddenly closed, companies were just catching up with rapidly changing consumer preferences and new communication channels. COVID-19 has pushed businesses into the digital realm and changed the way consumers interact with companies and services.
As the world reopens in 2021, we surveyed customers from 14 countries (US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, UAE, Malaysia, , Indonesia, , Australia, Brazil, and Mexico ) 5,000 consumers to understand how the epidemic has changed the way they communicate with brands and the services they rely on across different industries. What did we find?
customer engagement breaks the one-way, disjointed, and frustrating communication experience of the past. Digital channels emerged, with dramatic and continued growth in video chat, chatbots, app-based messaging, and calling, while reliable communication methods such as text messaging, email, and traditional voice calls remained stable. We now live in an era where customers expect ultra-fast, seamless, dynamic customer experiences to meet their needs at all times. And they are ready to leave any business when the experience continues to be inadequate.
Consumer expectations have changed forever and there is no turning back. Businesses that cannot engage customers digitally will be left behind by those who can.
2. The New World of Customer Behavior and Expectations
Before exploring the shift in companies leveraging customer interactions, we first need to know where things are going – how people around the world use communication channels today, and how this has changed. ?
1. Video chat is the new way to talk
- 3/4 of global respondents video chat with friends and family.
- One in five people video chats every day.
- The number of respondents choosing video chat as their preferred channel for communicating with their company increased by 300%.
- Three in five consumers globally are video chatting with a business or service provider compared to 18 months ago.
2. Live chat comes to life
One in five consumers uses live chat or in-app chat every day.
3. Email is slowly declining
Consumer preference for email is declining when it comes to contacting businesses. Of the top three most popular communication channels, it has fallen by 14% since January 2020, with messaging not far behind.
4. Cell phones and SMS aren’t the only way
- As everything happens on mobile devices, the preference for messaging apps, embedded voice calling, and video chat has proliferated alongside native voice and messaging apps.
- SMS is no longer dominant. While still popular, we've seen a 21% drop in the number of people using text messages daily to communicate with businesses and providers since January 2020 as consumers flock to messaging apps.
- Consumer preference for messaging apps has doubled since the COVID-19 outbreak.
3. Channel Ranking
Consumers are increasingly using emerging digital channels to connect with businesses every day. While traditional channels such as voice calls (via mobile or messaging apps), email, and messaging (via SMS or messaging apps) remain at the top, emerging channels such as chatbots and video have experienced strong, sustained growth over the past two years. increase.
Voice calls, email and text messages remain the top choices for consumers, but emerging digital channels such as video and messaging apps have seen a surge in popularity during the pandemic.
Businesses and service providers will always need to reach customers and prospects through phone calls, text messages and emails, but companies that adopt a multi-channel strategy are most likely to win now and in the future.
4. The Point of No Return for Customer Engagement
The data is clear and pervasive: the spike in digital engagement we’ve seen during COVID-19 is not a blip. Consumers who embraced emerging communication channels during the pandemic have not reverted to old habits. The way customers interact has changed permanently and will not return to pre-2020 standards.
Usage of digital channels (video chat, chatbots, non-SMS apps, etc.) has grown significantly, while usage of more traditional channels (SMS, mobile voice calls, email) has declined. Nearly half of respondents (47%) have increased their use of these digital channels to engage with businesses and service providers in the past 12-18 months.
- More than half of consumers (54%) expect to maintain this level of digital interaction over the next 6-12 months
- 33% say they will increase this further over the next 6-12 months
- Ten Nine out of ten consumers (87%) will not return to the way they dealt with businesses and service providers before the epidemic.
5. Data Highlights
Let’s look specifically at video chat, a rising star among emerging digital channels. Tracking global video chat usage since January 2020 shows a dramatic increase in consumer-to-business video communications. While personal use of video chat initially saw strong growth (61% penetration), consumer use of video chat for businesses doubled to nearly the same level as personal use (56%).
When face-to-face communication is suddenly limited and conversations by voice or text alone become insufficient for some services, consumers turn to video for all types of personal and business interactions. This is a much higher number than we have seen in the past. Two-thirds of consumers globally are now video chatting compared to 7 months ago.
In the consumer-to-business scenario, the use of video chat now lags only behind personal use with friends and family. Not only are more people video chatting, but they are doing so more frequently.
While this level of growth is impressive, more importantly, there are currently no signs of slowing down. Four out of five respondents expect their use of video chats with friends and family to remain the same (55%) or increase further (35%) over the next six months, boding well for the growing role of video in business communications sustained growth.
6. Customer Interaction Timeline
Looking back at previous customer interaction reports, we discovered the trends and inflection points that have led us into this new era.
In hindsight, it is easy to see that consumer adoption of digital channels is a continuous process. Obviously, COVID-19 has accelerated its development, but as customers become more digitally savvy and demanding and new communication channels emerge, we are destined to enter this new era of digital interaction. For businesses and service providers, the stakes have never been higher.
7. Customer Interaction Danger Zone
In previous years, our Customer Engagement Report highlighted which customer experience incidents irritated customers the most. Is it too long a wait, repeated messages, or a lack of communication options? This report provides the first in-depth look at the business impact of these setbacks. How long can customers endure it before their loyalty runs out and they look elsewhere? As customer expectations increase, loyalty is fragile at best, but some communication troubles are more dangerous than others.
customer loyalty breakpoint.
This is an area that no business or brand wants to enter. These costly customer interaction mistakes will stop half of your customers from purchasing your product or using your service. Here is the percentage of consumers who are very likely to stop purchasing from a business or using its services after experiencing these interactions repeatedly.
makes it clear to us that on this line, there is no safe zone for enterprises. One mistake can test customer loyalty. If you're lucky, the most forgiving clients may tolerate one of these small communication lapses. But if you go through this repeatedly, they're bound to reach a boiling point of loyalty and you're unlikely to see them come back.
8. Business Customer Interaction Rules in 2021
Although COVID-19 is a global pandemic, its impact is not widespread. The unique challenges and opportunities of different industries and even stages of life change how people feel, behave and react. This section delves into customer behavior and expectations across industries, geographies and age groups.
1. Healthcare
- Consumers are using video chat to connect with medical services 50% more than in 2020.
- A quarter of consumers use video chat in critical medical scenarios, including remote consultation, remote treatment and description of symptoms.
- Since the outbreak, 44% of global consumers have increased digital contact with healthcare providers.
- 56% of respondents said they will continue to engage at this pace over the next six months, with a further 31% saying it will increase again over the next six months.
- Consumers under the age of 40 ( Millennials and Generation Z) will increase their digital interactions with healthcare more than consumers 40 and older.
2. Banking and Finance
- Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, consumers have used video chat to connect with banking and financial services 25% more than before.
- A quarter of consumers use video chat for key banking and financial scenarios, including getting step-by-step advice on banking products or discussing investments with a financial planner.
- Since the outbreak, 48% of global consumers have increased their digital contact with banks and financial services.
- 55% said they will continue to engage at this rate over the next 6 months, with a further 35% saying it will increase again over the next 6 months.
- Consumers under 40 (Millennials and Gen Z) will increase their digital interactions more than those over 40.
3. Education
- Consumers are using video chat to connect with education providers 35% more now than during the 2020 outbreak.
- More than one-third of consumers are video chatting in key education scenarios, including remote tutoring and virtual classrooms.
- Since the outbreak of the epidemic, 47% of consumers around the world have increased their digital contact with education service providers.
- 53% said they will continue to participate at this rate over the next 6 months, while a further 34% said it will increase again over the next 6 months.
- Consumers under 40 (Millennials and Gen Z) will increase their digital interactions more than those over 40.
4. Retail/E-commerce
- Since the outbreak, 48% of consumers globally have increased their digital engagement with retailers and e-commerce platforms.
- 55% say they will continue to participate at this rate over the next 6 months, while a further 34% say it will increase again over the next 6 months.
- Consumers under 40 (Millennials and Gen Z) will increase their digital interactions more than those over 40.
5. Media/Entertainment, Gaming & Online Dating
- Consumers are using video chat to join online live broadcasts 25% more today than in 2020 after the outbreak.
- One in five consumers prefer to use video chat when chatting through dating apps.
- Since the outbreak, 39% of global consumers have increased their digital interaction with media, games and online dating platforms.
- 57% said they will continue to engage at this rate over the next six months, with a further 29% saying it will increase again over the next six months.
- Consumers under 40 (Millennials and Gen Z) will increase their digital interactions more than those over 40.
6. Transportation and Logistics
- Since the outbreak, 27% of consumers around the world have increased their digital contact with ride-sharing platforms.
- 54% said they will continue to interact with ride-sharing platforms at this rate over the next six months, and a further 27% said this rate will increase again over the next six months.
- 35% of consumers say they will increase their digital engagement with travel services such as airlines, booking platforms and accommodation over the next six months.
- Consumers under 40 (Millennials and Gen Z) will increase their digital interactions more than those over 40.
9. Winning in the New Era of Digital Customer Engagement
If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that businesses and service providers must respond quickly to an unpredictable world and changing customer communication preferences.
The significant growth in digital interactions since the outbreak began will continue. Customer interaction has entered the digital realm forever, and there’s no turning back.
As customer expectations increase, simply adding digital channels is not enough. In this new era of customer interaction, every digital conversation on every channel needs to work perfectly together if you want to win and retain customers. Even a small mistake can test the most loyal customers. How can
avoid these costly customer experience mistakes? How can you integrate a range of preferred digital channels to provide customers with a successful experience every time? These issues require careful thinking and planning by companies.
Translator: Pelican; Official account: Pelican Comprehensive Customer Experience Management (ID: CEM-tihu)
Original address: https://www.vonage.com/resources/publications/global-customer-engagement-report- 2021/
This article was translated and published by @ Pelican on Everyone is a Product Manager. Reprinting without the permission of the author is prohibited. The
title image comes from Unsplash and is based on the CC0 license.
