Technology gap prevents meaningful connections, risks loyalty among customers - Vonage report

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Businesses have technology gaps that prevent them from making meaningful connections with customers, according to Vonage's 11th Global Customer Engagement Report.

After two years of non-stop digital transformation among businesses, only 45 per cent of consumers are “very satisfied” with the way they connect with companies, revealing opportunities to enhance digital transformation efforts with omnichannel communications channels, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven capabilities, and more.

“60 per cent of customers are 'very satisfied' with friends and family communications, while 45 per cent rate business/service provider communications as high,” the report found.

While many consumers use messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger (57 per cent) and make calls via messaging apps (48 per cent) with friends and family on a daily basis, the study uncovered that phone calls (37 per cent) tend to be consumers’ most-used method for communicating with businesses, followed by email (30 per cent) and messaging apps (30 per cent).

In a statement, Vonage said this disparity suggests that businesses are not providing consumers with the same, familiar experience they are used to in their personal lives when it comes to communications technology.

In order to do that, businesses need to drive omnichannel customer engagement forward (voice calls, video, chat, messaging apps, and more) and embrace emerging technologies like AI to eliminate common customer frustrations and technology gaps.

The data also revealed several top customer frustrations in making meaningful and effective connections with brands, including long wait times to speak to a customer support agent (63 per cent), and having to call customer support multiple times (63 per cent).

In addition, the respondents indicated that physical in-store remains the most-preferred purchase channel (45 per cent), followed by e-commerce (39 per cent), phone calls (38 per cent), and email (36 per cent).

The report is based on a survey of nearly 5,000 consumers from 11 countries, exploring preferences when it comes to using technology to connect with their favourite brands.

As a global cloud communications leader, Vonage helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation.

-- BERNAMA