New survey shows consumers want more from customer support

Consumers have higher expectations than ever before for customer support. They want faster, more efficient help, and they want it 24/7. But that’s just the beginning, from their desire for more personalized experiences to channels and technology, all of which are shaping customer experience (CX) trends.

To find out exactly what consumers want from their customer support experience, Zoom commissioned a new survey from Morning Consult. Not only does the survey reveal that consumers want everything from friendliness to chatbot resolutions, but it also shows where businesses are failing to meet their needs.

Learn more about insights from our survey and the CX trends emerging from the shift in expectations.

Our survey revealed that if customers receive bad support, they’ll leave a brand. More than half (59%) would switch to a competitor after only one or two negative support experiences.

A few ways they define negative support experiences:

• Bad information. When asked what contributes to a negative support experience, 54% said inaccurate resolutions.
• Long wait times. 85% of consumers say short wait times should be provided as part of a support experience, but far fewer — only 51% — experience short wait times.

The effects of a negative support experience go beyond losing just one customer. Negative support experiences inspire consumers to tell others and that can negatively affect your Net Promoter Score (NPS).

• 57% percent say they’d tell a friend or family member to avoid the company.
• More than a third would write a negative online review, and 31% would mention the company on social media.

“How can we leverage and harness automation so we can create more personalized and prescriptive capabilities so that now you know me as a human being and a consumer, you have a relatively good idea of what I’m looking for,” said Scott Brown, head of Zoom Contact Center, in a recent fireside chat about consumer expectations for support (watch the on-demand recording here). “How do you actually answer my question faster, resolve my issue quicker, or get me to the right resource?”

“There’s an increasing desire for experiences that actually blend technology and virtual experiences with live human agent support, but has to be done in a very artful and a very thoughtful way,” explained Mahesh Ram in the fireside chat. “That’s happening with today’s technology in ways that were not even possible five years ago.”

The survey showed that chatbots have entered the mainstream, with 67% of consumers having used chatbots at least once in the past year. And, 81% of chatbot users said their most recent support experience was positive.

A total of 72% of chatbot power users (a growing segment of people who use chatbots more than once a month) were more likely to write a positive review about the brand or company after that interaction.

Consumers also want more video support. At least half of them would consider using live video to get help, but only 24% have actually used live video support.

“In many cases, a video experience, where you can walk a customer through an issue face-to-face or interact with them can create a rich interactive experience that’s superior to voice or text alone,” said Mahesh.

It’s an ideal scenario for creating a better experience by blending technology with live human agent support.

“What you’re talking about is not having this notion of deflection or friction, but rather having an enhanced experience that actually boosts the brand’s reputation and perception in the market,” said Mahesh. 

Part of the improved CX experience revolves around improving the agent experience, and businesses are looking for ways to maximize the personalization and effectiveness the live human agent can bring.

So, how do you do it? “Take advantage of technology to provide real-time information to the agent or the representative, so they can better resolve the issue,” explained Scott Brown. That means having a seamless way to get information to resolve issues and having the tools and systems agents can rely on. 

“Empowering the agents means making sure that again that they have the tools and systems to do their jobs appropriately, which means truly valuing that customer experience.”

“Self-service, ironically enough, helps make that possible, because it frees agents up from having to handle highly repetitive cases,” said Mahesh. “If we can eliminate 50 to 60 percent of the issues before they go in front of an agent, the agents can focus on the more complex use cases. We’re seeing a tighter integration between data and contact center platforms that allow the agents to be smarter, better, and faster.”

The survey shows that customers are more than twice as likely to buy from a company after a positive support experience (87%) than after a negative one (35%), just one more indication that a great customer experience will boost the bottom line. The correlation between revenue and the customer experience will define CX trends and strategies this year.

“Consumers are raising the bar for all of us,” said Mahesh. “They want experiences to be accurate, immediate, and effortless.”

To discover more insights about customer expectations for customer support, read all the results from the Morning Consult survey.

See how Zoom can help you meet all your CX goals with our omnichannel contact center and conversational AI and chatbot solution, Zoom Virtual Agent.

This survey was commissioned by Zoom and conducted by Morning Consult among 2,200 general population adults in the United States from November 1 to November 2, 2022. The data were weighted to demographically reflect the makeup of the U.S. adult population. The margin of error for this study is +/- 2 percentage points.