Your customers are using more than one service channel to get a resolution

Chart of the day: Most customers have to contact companies twice to get a resolution to a customer service problem

Research by maru/edr has found that almost 8 in 10 customers contact companies by one method (such as online chat) and then by another (such as by phone) - customers feel they need to use multiple channels to get a resolution.

The research also found that (as expected) email is the easiest method of contact, but phone contact led to a more immediate resolution. Live chat also led to a slightly higher number of resolutions than email. Social media was found to resolve issues the least and the most difficult method for contact, which is surprising - especially with the wider use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. We have seen that more and more companies are investing time to integrate social media into their customer service/support teams, but this could vary by industry. Perhaps social media is used for helping customers with a fast response to their problem, but not a resolution.

A key takeaway of this research is that it's best to keep customers in the channel they are in when they are purchasing, or when they are attempting to make the first contact. This helps build a strong relationship with the customer - it can increase loyalty.

• Source: maru/ edr
• Sample: Nationally representative sample of 2,053 UK adults in 2016.
• Recommended resource: Website ecommerce personalization guide