Sep 26, 2018
There will never come a time when zero communication between businesses and their clients is acceptable. Naturally, it’s important for there to be ways to get in touch and interact in order to build brand loyalty. In today’s world, there are many different ways to communicate – social media being among the most popular. But, make no mistake about it. Short of a face-to-face meeting, there is still no better way to have a conversation than over the phone.
You can’t type as quickly as you can speak.
As Gregg Johnson of Harvard Business Review explains, there is simply no comparison to the live conversation. In terms of delivering a message, actual speaking (as opposed to typing) provides us all with the ability to communicate a lot more effectively. He highlights some indisputable facts about the delivery ability of speaking compared to that of typing or texting.
“As brands prioritize this digital experience, they often overlook a simple fact: communicating by voice is faster, easier, and more effective than typing messages back and forth,” writes Johnson, “Humans generally speak at 125-175 words per minute and can listen at a rate of up to 450 words per minute. In contrast, the average typist does 38-40 words per minute — and that’s on a full-fledged keyboard, not on a mobile phone.”
Consumers prefer genuine human interactions.
One of the reasons the telephone remains a top way to effectively communicate with customers is because conversations happen in real time. When a question is asked, it can be answered right away. Waiting several hours or even days for an answer has become the norm in the world of e-mail. This is generally considered unacceptable.
“Customers still love talking to a real human being, and they still hate complicated automated menus that take forever to get through to the person they need,” notes Arina on Casengo.com, “Although calling is still popular on its own, surveys find that 50% of customers choose to call if none of the other communication methods brought the desired result.”
Customers are calling more, not less.
We certainly wouldn’t suggest that you eliminate such modes of communication as e-mail and your social media accounts to communicate with members of your target audience. However, we would strongly advise that you place increased efforts on the ways in which you handle customer service over the phone. As Johnson reveals, today’s consumers are increasingly using the phone to have their problems resolved.
“Calls to businesses have significantly increased in response to the mass adoption of mobile phones,” he informs, “Filling out a form on a five-inch screen is a much clunkier experience than calling a business directly from a search result or a Facebook ad. According to the advertising and marketing advisory firm BIA/Kelsey, calls to businesses are expected to exceed 169 billion per year by 2020.”
Allow us to get on the phone for you!
The phone agents who are part of the TK Enterprises Inc. team have over 30 years of experience. For information about how our one-of-a-kind Event Marketing services can grow the relationships between your jewelry store and its customers, please don’t hesitate to call us toll-free at 1-877-622-0195. You may also email us at heidi.tke@tomkaufmann.com or fill out the form on our Contact Us page and have someone contact you!
Sep 5, 2018
In the year 2018, we have more ways to communicate with each other than ever before. Between all of those social media platforms, messaging apps and our email accounts, it’s practically impossible to not stay in touch. There is something about all of those modes of communication, however, that lack a human quality. It’s hard to have genuine interactions when a message is sent and its reply could potentially take hours to appear.
A natural conversation, on the other hand, is one that can help two or more individuals get a true sense for what the other parties are talking about. Bonds can be made easier. And, of course, actual talking involves inflections, tones and gestures that help to better communicate messages. This is why the majority of your customers would much rather talk to you on the phone than use any of the above mentioned communication methods in order to receive customer service.
Studies show that customers prefer the phone.
It should come as no surprise that millennials enjoy using social media in order to keep in contact. However, even consumers who are part of the younger generation often herald the telephone as a top means of getting a problem resolved with a company. Edgar Maurice Rollon of Anderson Group offers some interesting statistics that speak to that point.
“In a survey by the Northridge Group, about 56% of respondents find communication through phones ‘easy’ and less complicated compared to other channels,” he reveals, “In the same survey, phone interactions produced the highest ratio of customer issue resolutions, with about 87% of the respondents claiming they got their issues resolved with the problems they raised through a phone call.”
Customers want the human touch.
What a telephone conversation can do that other modern forms of communication cannot is offer the opportunity for immediate back and forth dialogue. Questions can be answered immediately – not minutes later. This is likely why other research has found that the vast majority of consumers prefer that there is a “human touch” involved in the customer service provided by the companies they do business with.
On ContactCenterPipeline.com, Susan Hash reveals the findings of a global study released by Verint Systems, with support from Opinium Research and IDC. It surveyed over 24,000 consumers in 12 countries and polled more than 1,000 businesses. The study’s objective, she reveals, was to identify the right balance between digital and human customer service and whether consumers preferred digital or traditional channels.
“When the service request is simple, 22% of survey participants chose the phone as the most popular channel, while email and SMS tied for second place at 19% each,” Hash writes, “As service requests become more complex, reliance on human interaction increases. More than one-third (34%) of respondents said that they prefer to go in-store for answers to complex inquiries, while 33% said they prefer the phone. The highest-ranked digital channel was email with only 7% of consumers reporting that they use it to handle complex requests.”
Put our expertise to work for you!
At TK Enterprises Inc., we have over 30 years of experience offering the human touch to jewelry store customers. For more information about our one-of-a-kind Event Marketing services, please don’t hesitate to call us toll-free at 1-877-622-0195. You may also email us at heidi.tke@tomkaufmann.com or fill out the form on our Contact Us page and have someone contact you!
