Telecoms consumers revealed a preference for people on the other end of the phone, rather than machines. In a survey conducted by Omdia, over 3,000 people from the UK, US and Brazil answered questions on communicating with their CSPs. The outcome shows that customers would really prefer the human touch where possible.
Chatbots absolutely have a place in the industry however, but moreso as a first point of contact. What the results indicate is that CSPs should consider when in the chain of interaction that they introduce a real person.
Report author Peter Boyland of Omdia had this to say on the subject: ”It’s clear that providers who cut own on human engagement do so at considerable risk to their customer engagement strategy. Such reductions need to be carefully managed, with resources redirected into training staff to become experts in key areas. The chatbot cannot be the only voice option- a human handshake must be there when needed.”
The report pairs well with an Omdia event hosted last week, where the pros and cons of AI were discussed. Despite the recent advances in the field, consumers still prefer people over machines to understand and resolve their query.
”Over half of consumers we surveyed said it was key that the person they speak to is able to make decisions or find resolutions,” said Boyland. ”Staff training, improved access to customer data, and ensuring calls go through to the right department can lead to better responses and improve consumer engagement.”
The report also mentioned the popularity of communication methods for consumer engagement. This saw emails via website coming in at first, followed by SMS. Voice- one of the human variety- came in at third. As a whole, this survey provides good information for the telecoms industry, with companies forever cutting down jobs for AI. It’s also reassuring for the average employee, knowing we’re not quite on the brink of being replaced by robots yet.
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