Abandon email as a customer service channel at your peril

When it comes to customer service and the channels that businesses use to serve their customers, most of the talk in the marketplace is about self-service, smartphone apps, social media, etc. etc.

All of which, I think, are really exciting and useful and these new channels are pushing the boundaries of how customers can get and receive better customer service.

However, when you fight your way through all of the “talk” and look at the data about how customers are interacting and want to interact with firms, the data tells a different story.

For instance, Dimension Data’s 2013/14 global contact centre benchmarking summary report is based on a survey of 817 contact centres, across 11 sectors and 79 countries. Of the respondents:

• Just over 80% of them are from in-house contact centres, whilst the remainder are from outsourced operations;
• Over half of the respondents are from contact centres with more than 100 employees; and
• B2C businesses represent around 63% of the respondents, whilst B2B and IT help desks represent around 22% and 16% of the remainder respectively.

So, a pretty good sample.

When you dig into the report, Dimension Data found that electronic messaging (e.g. email, SMS but not including social media) is the second most popular channel for baby boomers, those born between 1945 and 1960, and Generation X-ers, those born between 1961 and 1989. The telephone is still their favourite customer service channel.

Meanwhile, electronic messaging (email) is the most popular channel for Generation Y-ers, those born after 1990.

Do these findings not run counter to some of the “talk” in the marketplace about the channels different people prefer?

What’s clear is that email is still a really important channel for many customer groups.

However, Eptica found in another study (2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study) that up to 25% of firms are turning off or not offering email as a customer service channel. Worryingly, I’ve also heard rumours that this number is growing.

In light of Dimension Data’s findings, why are firms turning off their email customer service support? Higher cost to serve? Not fashionable? Lack of skills? Harder to manage? Their particular customers are not interested in email as a channel?

Who knows?

But what we do know is that email is still important for a number of different age groups and shouldn’t be written off. Email, like the phone, may not be sexy, it may be labour intensive, and, therefore, expensive. But, it’s what many customers want.

Therefore, why not give it to them?

Despite the explosions of channels on offer to customers, email is still an important and in-demand channel for them, particularly for dealing with more complex issues and queries.

Further, according to the Radicati Group, the number of email accounts in use is forecast to rise from just less than four billion globally in 2013 to around five billion by the end of 2017, fueled by the growth in smartphones and tablets around the world.

That doesn’t mean to say that firms should not be developing the new channels (self-service, smartphone apps, social media, etc.) as, I believe, these channels will become increasingly important over time. Moreover, with some smart thinking and data analysis you could probably work out an email customer service strategy that works with, and complements, your strategy for self-service and other channels.

Firms that are turning off their email customer service or not investing in it, should listen less to the “talk,” think again, listen more to their customers and, then, give them what they want.