Nuance Business Consulting Services

Companies worldwide will spend more than $100 billion in customer care in 2009. Despite the significant investment companies are making, consumer satisfaction rates for customer care are extremely low. When it comes to self-service options by phone, a whopping 72% of consumers are not satisfied with their experience and 80% of consumers have taken action by telling family and friends and leveraging various forms of media to spread the word.

So, where are companies going wrong?

While many factors impact satisfaction, one critical mistake companies can make is assuming that live customer service agents are the most effective way to create a preferred customer experience and drive brand and customer loyalty. With nearly 65% of consumers using their mobile device to call customer care, it seems like a natural progression for customer care extend to the mobile device.

Take for instance Nuance Mobile Care, an on-device self-service application that is embedded on the handset to give customers the ability to solve simple problems like paying a bill or upgrading their wireless plan directly on the handset simply by dialing the customer care phone number like 611.  Through deployments in North America and Europe, Nuance Mobile Care has been able to solve on average over 60% of calls on the device, saving operators millions of dollars a month.

A recent study on consumer attitudes towards Nuance Mobile Care, carried out by Added Value, revealed some interesting information about consumer preferences.

• 62% of respondents preferred the Nuance Mobile Care application versus talking to an agent or using Web self-service, specifically in terms of ease of use (70%), ease of understanding (64%), speed (55%) and likelihood to use (61%).
• 59% of respondents said that handset self-service would be their preferred channel of customer care, compared with only 34% that would choose to deal with a customer service agent.
• A miniscule 1% of respondents said they favor web self-service.

Of course, the way a self-service application is designed is critical in driving consumer adoption and preference.

To further discuss this issue, comment on this post or contact us at consultingteam@nuance.com. 

Posted by Nuance TIPS* Expert Hetal Pandya, Product Director for Nuance Mobile Care

*TIPS expert posts are written by Nuance experts and thought leaders and discuss a common issue or emerging trend they're seeing in contact centers and around customer experience. It's just another way we can engage in a relevant, meaningful dialogue with you and share our contact center expertise. We encourage you to post your comments, challenges or questions.