Record numbers of shoppers turn to web self-service for answers
The web is becoming a primary customer service channel for businesses as more consumers shop and access information online, according to Transversal.
Transversal’s Web Self-Service Indexhas highlighted a sharp increase in the number of consumers asking questions through web self-service systems to obtain customer service information. In the quest to avoid calling or emailing contact centres, the amount of customers turning to this channel for faster responses to questions has risen 224 per cent from 2004 to 2006.
The positive trend continued between 2005 and 2006 with the amount of questions asked using web self-service increasing 107 per cent. Transversal’s annual Web Self-Service Index monitors consumer behaviour by analysing usage and volume through client sites, looking both at the overall rate of adoption and the amount of customers and questions handled by individual client applications. It provides a view of the market, supported by specific information on key vertical sectors such as financial services, retail, travel and consumer electronics.
Comparing the first and second halves of 2006, questions asked through Transversal’s client web self-service applications were up by over a third, with a 39 per cent rise. The largest seasonal peaks came in retail and consumer electronics in the run up to Christmas. For example, retailer Freemans saw a 29 per cent growth in questions asked through its system, with the majority of this in the six weeks leading up to 25th December. Travel is predicted to be the major peak in the first half of 2007, as holidaymakers increasingly research and buy online.
