Twenty-seven percent of consumers surveyed by Simplr in the company’s June 2020 State of CX study said customer service wait times on digital channels during COVID-19 have caused their brand loyalty to waver. The comprehensive study of 750+ brands and 500 online shoppers found a seven percent increase in wait times on digital channels between February and June among top-performing brands. In addition, just 41 percent scored high when it comes to their ability to go above and beyond for their customers, signaling the challenges brands are facing as they transition to digital CX in the face of a 76 percent rise in YoY online shopping.
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Customer service responsiveness: before, and during, the pandemic
|
Metric |
February 2020 |
June 2020 |
|
Email first response time of companies with highest experience score (4.5+) |
21 Hours 13 Minutes |
25 hours 37 minutes |
|
Percentage of companies with chat response time <30 sec. |
42% |
39% |
|
Percentage of companies that had all three digital channels on their websites: Email, Chat, Contact us. |
46% |
69% |
|
Percentage of customer interactions solved on the first attempt (across chat and email) |
60% |
52% |
|
Percentage of companies that scored “high” in relatability |
61% |
41% |
|
Channel that earned the higher satisfaction score |
Chat: 3.64 Email: 3.63 |
Chat: 3.21* Email: 3.35
*32% of shopped companies had chat available |
While online shoppers may have been forgiving of less-than-ideal customer service levels at the outset of the pandemic, five months into the “new normal” the data implies that consumers have returned to their previous expectation levels. In Simplr’s June study, 72 percent of online customers said that response time was just as, or more, important than before the pandemic.
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The accelerated shift to online shopping has led retailers to offer more digital channels to meet their customers where they want to interact. It is not surprising that the number of brands using three digital channels (chat, email, contact us) increased 50 percent from February to June (46 percent in February; 69 percent in June). However, increased activation of these channels did not translate into better responsiveness.
“Turning a channel like chat ‘on’ means retailers have more staffing requirements to meet the needs of people shopping online 24/7,” said Eng Tan, CEO and founder of Simplr. “While most retailers strive to offer great customer service, many struggle with having their team working at 12 midnight on a Friday.”
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