43% believe that chat will be in vogue in 2017 to communicate with companies: Survey

Zendesk a company that builds software for better customer relationships, recently commissioned a study that was conducted among 2000 respondents across India. The study was part of their efforts to analyze trends in customer relationship management in India among Indian enterprises.

The report also shows that new age communication platforms such as chat and messaging have grown in popularity in recent years. While 43% of the respondents feel they will be using chat more in 2017, 20% of the respondents interviewed felt they will use messaging more by the same year to communicate with companies.

Adds KT Prasad, Country Sales Director, Zendesk India, “The study highlights the fact that businesses are transforming rapidly in India and effective customer relationship management is at the heart of this seismic shift. Armed with a distinctive understanding of shifting customer needs, Zendesk is keen to partner with Indian companies to achieve their growth potential.”

As to what platforms are currently in use for communication in customer service, 59% believe it is Email and Phone and 5% of the respondents prefer to use self-service, while just 6% chose web forums.

Interestingly around a quarter of respondents in North India (25%), South India (23%) and West India (26%) prefer chat.

Respondents of the survey were also asked to recommend leading industry sectors in India that were known for quality customer service.

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Handling irate customers is the biggest challenge for any customer focused company. On the question as to what annoys you most when you reach out to a company to complain, to get help, to solve a problem or ask for more information, this is what the respondents felt.

Almost half of all respondents, 49% said that being passed around from person to person was the most annoying element when contacting customer support. This was followed by lack of knowledge at 38%, frustrating responses in a robotic / non-human way was 33%, lack of information being provided on websites at 30% and 24% attribute limited channels to reach a company being the key annoyance factor.

On using social media as a platform for customer feedback, 92% of the respondents felt they would be prepared to comment on social media if they received good customer service while 61% felt they would if they received bad customer service.

On whether reviews and comments on good or bad customer service from social media contacts can influence one’s decision to purchase a product or service from a company, an overwhelming 88% believed that good or bad reviews from social media contacts would influence their decisions. This trend further rises to 91% for the 18-34 year olds.

The study also shows that customers in general are happy to pay extra for products or services if they are guaranteed better customer service by the respective companies. 64% of respondents affirmed this and this further rises to 70% for 18-34 year olds and drops to 54% for those over 45 years old.

Interestingly, 68% Men are more likely to pay as opposed to women at 61%.

The study by Zendesk clearly reflects a shifting trend in customer relationship and communication platforms in India. This is no misnomer but is just the mirror image of a global trend that is today prevalent across the globe. Companies on their part will need to wake up to this paradigm and take the necessary steps to better engage with their treasured customers.