The customer service field experiencedrapid changes in 2017, and a new CallVU report says this trend isprompting conflicting responses from consumers.

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The study titled "Customer Service Trends and Their Effect on FintechBusinesses" analyzes the results of across-generational survey of contemporary customer preferences andbehaviors regarding business support services, both traditional andthose that rely on digital technology.

What's the upshot?

Baby Boomers and Generation Xers continue to seekout self-service customer service options. Anoverwhelming majority of people in these categories (80%) say theywould use visual IVR (Interactive Voice Response) services.

For businesses, moving customer services into the digital spheremeans saving time and resources. Digitizing customer services alsofrees up staff to handle more high-value tasks.

Here's why people love self-service

CallVU survey respondents say they expect, "fast, personalized,and convenient customer support," which helps explain theirincreasing interest in self-service options. Companies arebeginning to respond in turn. Consider that CallVU analysts foundthat customers are increasingly rating buying experienceover price when it comes to purchases, and the potentialfinancial impact is huge:

One report found that companies lost $62billion last year due to poor customer service experiences.

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Old school, new school

Despite customers' increasing interest in advancing digitalservices, the majority of CallVU survey respondents (57%) say theystill prefer the telephone and face-to-face interactions.

"Financial institutions are investing heavily in technologicaladvances to improve customer service," said Ori Faran, co-founderand CEO of CallVU. "Yet surprisingly, people still use the mosttraditional of options: calling."

Faran added that the onus is on service providers to findcreative solutions to eclectic consumer tastes. "Visual IVR is theideal choice because it offers callers simple web-based menus thatdrive them to a fully digital experience in a friendly andintuitive manner," Faran said.

The study found that when customers cannot solve an issue via a digitalchannel on the first try, 46% call, and 34% visit a branchin-person instead of utilizing other digital channels. (Image:Provided by CallVU)

Catering strictly to consumers with traditional communicationspreferences can have a significant financial downside, says CallVU.Telephone and face-to-face services are expensive as they requirevaluable human resources, physical space and substantial time.These resources should be shifted to more "high-value services"that digital cannot handle, researchers conclude.

Maximizing search engines

The survey also found that 70% of respondents call theirinstitutions of interest after searching for the phone numberonline. CallVU says this result poses an encouraging opportunityfor companies to guide their customers directly from their websiteto digital self-services, replacing the needto place a phone call.

Two-thirds of respondents also say they would stop emailing,faxing or visiting a business' brick and mortar location if theycould safely sign and share documents via "co-browsing," orcollaboration browsing. (CallVU defines co-browsing as the jointonline navigation of two or more people accessing the same web pageat the same time.)

This method would help eliminate the need to be physicallypresent at a branch to sign documents, simultaneously improvingcustomer satisfaction while reserving expensive company resourcesfor high-value tasks.  

Finally, researchers say that businesses will thrive in thecoming years when they heed the consumer trends outlined in thisresearch and invest in innovative customer service solutions. Bydoing so, these future-minded companies will advance their owndigital transformation while improving the customers' digitalexperience.

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