Datamonitor senior analyst Ian Jacobs writes an interesting article “The New Interaction of Social Media”:
What’s the most commonly used channel for customer support? In the formal sense of a customer reaching out directly to a company, statistics show the answer is still the telephone. But, taking a broader view and reframing the definition a little, I’d guess the most-used channel in the world for customers trying to get information about how to operate, repair, or modify specific products would be Google’s search engine.
Think about your own behavior: I would bet that most of you first turn to Google when you want to find out how to turn off international data-roaming on your iPhone, how to clean your glass-ceramic stovetop without damaging the surface, or how to properly cook a turkey. While Google may return gobs of extraneous noise in response to such general searches, wading through that clamor is often much more pleasant than calling 800 numbers for Apple, Bosch, or Butterball—or even using those companies’ self-service options.
And he’s absolutely right. Oftentimes before we call a number, we try to look for answers online via search engines or instant message our friends. Many folks prefer to avoid talking to a machine (IVR).
Many contact centers now deploy knowledgebases as a way to centralize and normalize an agent’s interaction with the customer. How is data fed into these KBs? Are they mainly from internal sources? Is there a KB “librarian” who’s tasked to routinely update the KBs? In today’s world, this librarian ought to scour the Web for external sources of information as well. After all, how many times have we been frustrated with clueless agents then turn to the Web to find solutions from others?
Eugene
