Spitch's study on Covid-19 and customer service

[nusratjahan]

The study conducted by Spitch shows how contact centers were unable to fully manage the load of incoming calls during the Covid emergency .

Due to the lockdown and the widespread introduction of smart working , customer service departments were inundated with calls and inquiries, such as cancellations of trips, medical and work appointments, as well as changes in banking and insurance operations. Were companies able to navigate the crisis while also ensuring a satisfactory level of customer experience ?

Internationally, during the pandemic, users chose the internet as their preferred channel for receiving assistance; contact centers ranked second, while email and voice/text chat were less popular.

On the other hand, consumers showed leniency toward companies that had to deal with a totally new and unexpected event. More than half of respondents maintained shop a largely positive attitude toward brand performance, although nearly half of respondents did not rule out turning to a competitor if the situation remained unsatisfactory .

The difficulties encountered are mainly related to the emergency context and the associated psychological reactions, and consumers are nonetheless alert to the lack of innovation and improvement in the level of assistance from companies. Users consider voice technologies a fundamental tool for managing call peaks, with consequent reduction in waiting times , even for providing customer service in " normal " situations.

A significant portion of customers believe that voice-controlled smart IVRs can make a significant contribution: so-called " robot call centers " are increasingly being used by innovative companies. A large portion of respondents interacted with these virtual assistants during the COVID emergency, and almost all experienced a satisfactory level of assistance . Among them, a portion had interacted (at least once) with a contact center using only automated self-service systems . This significant percentage is offset by a portion of people who have never spoken to a virtual assistant.

In this context, consumers provided very clear indications on the features they desired from automated systems: in all countries, people highlighted (1) the elimination of queues and the reduction of waiting times, and (2) the correctness/precision of responses . The main obstacle to overcome, according to the interviewees, is the fear that a machine will struggle to understand human language.