executive summary
In 2011, NICE inaugurated research into the behavior and preferences of customers as they interact with their service providers. Then, we found that people like doing business with providers online, via the web, and that, while having a multiplicity of interaction channels is important to consumers, the contact center remains a critical second-tier service resource. A year later, our 2012 Consumer Channel Preference Survey establishes these trends, showing even more channels and more empowered, engaged customers in play.
Our 2012 findings reveal that, while the Web is still the most popular-and growing-choice for customer self-service,consumers today use as many as six different channels for contacting their service providers. Smartphone applications and social networks have grown in popularity, with more than 40% of respondents noting that they have increased their use of these additional channels. Despite this trend, the contact center is still viewed as the most successful channel for accomplishing tasks.
