For many businesses keeping custom is key and success is often measured by accounting for the proportion of returning customers. One factor that invariably appears from client surveys is the degree to which the consumer considers the process of dealing with a company to be ‘convenient’.
New data, compiled from the client engagement provider Moxtra, has sought to uncover inconsistencies and shortcomings in terms of the perception of ‘convenience’ in the customer engagement process.
To compile the data, Moxtra surveyed 1,000 consumers and 200 senior-level decision makers in the healthcare, education, insurance and logistics industries.
One point from the survey is that a functioning mobile app is considered to be really important as a convenience point (at 49 percent of the consumers polled). This is followed by having the ability to talk to a human representative (raised by 43 percent) and for the service to be affordable, with low cost cited by 36 percent of the poll.
With the desire to engage with a person rather than a chat-bot, 54 percent of consumers said their biggest pain point when interacting with service providers is difficulty getting in touch with a representative.
These three items top the list of the essential features that the typical consumer looks for when engaging with a brand.
Although it is apparent that consumers know what they want, it appears from a review of what companies are offering that many brands have a lot of catching up to do. Given that the rapid digital adoption driven by COVID-19 will continue into the recovery, the companies that prosper are most likely to be those with a coherent digital strategy (as discussed in a McKinsey document).
Furthermore, some consumers feel that brands have taken a retrograde step with some respondents reporting that during the pandemic, 21 percent of providers became more inconvenient to use and 20 percent failed to adapt through not changing their service options in any way.
If this trend is clear, the question arises as to why many brands are slow to respond to the marketplace? In terms of what appears to hold brands back, 60 percent of brands cited cost as the top roadblock to implementing new digital tools.
This was followed closely by limited staff and resources (at 33 percent), which is something that relates to both available numbers and technical expertise. This is in keeping with the top pain point for 44 percent of organizations interacting with consumers being not having enough staff or resources to provide timely, consistent and quality engagement.
