Have you ever been browsing the Internet for self-service answers or awaiting an e-mail response from customer support, when instead you decide to turn to your social media chat platform of choice (e.g., Facebook, Google Chat, AOL Instant Messenger) to find a real-time answer from (who else)—your online friends! With the technology’s popularity expected to grow to 1.7 billion users by 2013, companies too are exploring (and, in many cases, already trying out) web chat as a customer support channel to save on phone and e-mail costs while capitalizing on the customers’ growing comfort with online chat in general.

And while chat can be a great tool to interact with friends, does it truly fulfill its promise of cost-savings and improved online customer experience as a service and support channel? Read More »

E-mail is commonly used by customers for a plethora of reasons–general inquiries, account information, escalations, and much more. It is also considered an essential support channel by many companies today. But is e-mail really helping us provide good service to our customers?

Complaints about long e-mail chains, delayed responses, and unclear (or worse, scripted) information are earning e-mail a reputation of being ineffective in issue resolution. Indeed, CCC data shows that customers lack confidence in this channel’s issue resolution capabilities when compared to other channels such as phone or web self-service.

That said, with almost 1.9 billion e-mail users worldwide and 480 million new e-mail users added in the period 2009-2010, e-mail is a high potential customer support channel. So why are companies struggling to crack the channel? In fact, is it the channel the culprit at all or simply the way companies use it for issue resolution?

CCC’s new research helps companies rethink their e-mail support strategies by focusing on three considerations: Read More »

Whether they need to know a product price, gather information, or simply complain about something, Asian customers are increasingly turning to social media for assistance. Ovum reported that nearly 40% of Indian consumers use social media for customer service— compared to only 12 % of consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom. In China, too, service through social media has almost doubled in the last two years, as people turn to social media as a viable alternative to phone. This trend of increased use of social media by customers is pushing companies to tap into social media as a service channel in Asia.

Before jumping in, however, companies should consider the diverse social media landscape in Asia, as well as the cultural/local nuances of various regions: Read More »