Leading provider of communication and collaboration systems, RingCentral UK recently released a report into the issues of the “Digital Disconnect.” According to the survey into a global selection of 2,000 customer-facing employees, disjointed communications are hurting more than just employee productivity. RingCentral believes that poor communication strategies can harm customer satisfaction and damage the bottom line.
Now that modern customers demand more than ever from service and support solutions, companies need to take additional steps to keep their clients happy. For instance, consumers want to be able to communicate through a variety of channels, but they’re often unable to do so because of disjointed comms technology. According to the survey, UK customers stopped using products or services 3.6 times over the last year because of a bad customer service experience.
Customers Aren’t Afraid to Leave Companies
Today’s consumers have no problem abandoning the businesses that don’t offer the right level of support according to the RingCentral survey. Millennials and Generation Z customers are the ones most likely to cut ties. More than 5 times in the last year, a consumer from this demographic switched to another brand. Additionally, men are more likely to leave brands than women.
One of the biggest problems consumers have is with repeating themselves. 89% of respondents said they hate to repeat themselves through multiple channels. Another 46% of UK customers said they have to cut ties with brands after repeating themselves over and over again. Another 72% said that they’d rather do chores around the house than communicate with ineffective bots.
What’s more, complex workflows and ineffective tech frustrate customer-facing employees. The more frustrated an employee becomes, the more their ability to serve customers and deliver satisfaction decreases. Unfortunately, 77% of employees are exposing customers to lengthier-than-necessary service times because of ineffective technology. Half of respondents admitted that frustrations with communications tech often cause them to be rude to friends and family.
Customers Demand More from Businesses
Customers today want to be able to interact with businesses across multiple channels, anywhere, at any time. However, RingCentral’s study shows that these expectations aren’t met. According to the Managing Director of RingCentral EMEA, Sahil Rekhi, customers are now leaving businesses due to bad experiences. If companies can’t arm their employees with the right communication tools, they risk losing clients and staff members alike.
To deliver the experience that today’s consumers demand, businesses need to address the friction coming from disjointed customer and employee communications across multiple channels. Research suggests that customer and employee engagement levels are often closely connected. 91% of the employees surveyed said that a platform that allows them to navigate seamlessly between communication options would benefit them. 81% of UK employees also said they’d stay with a company for longer if it used a seamless communication platform.
Other findings from the study revealed that customer-facing employees are increasingly interested in the option to use AI to find the right customer data (86%). Additionally, 93% of employees consider team messaging to be effective, though the strategy is only being used by 21% of staff.
Click here to view the full RingCentral report.
