Do Customers Still Prefer Phone Customer Support?

The age of the call center is fading fast — or is it? Studies have shown that younger generations, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, tend to prefer texting over phone calls. There are signs that Gen Z in particular find phone calls stressful and prefer the simplicity and clarity of texting. This extends to customer service interactions as well, with many younger customers prefer to use self-service portals or even speak to an AI over a human agent.

But is this the universal experience? According to the data, not really. While more options for customer support means call centers no longer have absolute dominance, there are still plenty of customers who prefer speaking to a human agent.

For example, a recent study shows that while 84% of customers are aware that some companies use AI in their customer service solutions, nearly half of them don’t trust information provided by them, and over half have experienced frustrations while interacting with one. AI is getting better all the time, but in some ways isn’t quite there yet.

Additionally, desire for phone support is still going strong. According to the survey linked above:

Gen Z is less likely to prefer talking to a real human in-person or over the phone for customer support (66%) compared to Gen X (76%) and Baby Boomers / the Silent Generation (86%)

That means there are plenty of customers out there who still prefer a phone conversation with a human agent when it comes to customer support. While younger generations are more conversant with, and trusting of, automated solutions, the majority still prefer human support agents.

Why Customers Prefer Phone Contact

While AI does account for some of this preference for human phone support, it’s not the only factor at play. There are several other reasons, including:

• Quick access to help for urgent or complex issues. No one relishes the experience of laboriously going through a phone tree or trying to talk to a chatbot when there’s an urgent situation or a sophisticated issue. AI is still notoriously poor at handling nuanced or complicated issues — which is where human ingenuity and adaptability thrives.
• Getting fast answers. Asynchronous communication such as text, social media DM, or email are good for some, but many customers would prefer not to wait for a reply to their inquiry or issue, and would rather stay on hold with a human person than check their device every few minutes.
• Not all customers are tech-savvy, particularly those who skew older. Many struggle with navigating digital technology and can easily get lost or frustrated. Beyond that, many customers would simply rather not wrangle with technology and opt for a simple person-to-person phone call instead.
• As outlined above, many customers feel more comfortable and trusting when it comes to human interaction than they would with a chatbot, AI, or virtual assistant.

How to Provide Better Phone Support

Now that we’ve established the continued viability of phone support, let’s dig into how your company can help make phone support better for your customer. Let’s start with contact center solutions:

Invest in Call Center Software

There are a plenitude of call center solutions out there, with a wealth of features that can help your business. Good call center software should have omnichannel support, intelligent call routing, monitoring, and recording, AI-powered QA, and analytics and metrics so you can see what’s working and what isn’t. Look for all these features when choosing your contact center software.

Offer a Call-Back Feature

Being on hold can be a profoundly frustrating experience, especially if hold times are particularly long. One way you can alleviate this frustration is to offer a call-back feature to let customers who are stick in a queue or on hold go about their day until a support agent is available to speak with them.

Multilingual Support

It’s an increasingly global marketplace, and businesses have little to lose by investing in multi-lingual support for their customer base. If you have a significant number of customers who speak a different language, supporting that can mean all the difference when it comes to customer satisfaction.

AI Functionality

It’s true that many customers don’t trust AI when it comes to information or solutions, but there’s still some use for AI in a call center scenario, such as intelligent voice prompts and AI-powered call routing. This can free up human agents when it comes to routing calls, leaving them more time to seal with issues.

Text Messaging Follow-Ups

Once your customer’s issue has been resolved, a good way to bolster customer satisfaction is to send follow-ups via text to get feedback and check their satisfaction levels.

Though more digital and automated customer service solutions are on the rise, there’s still plenty of demand for phone support — so make it the best you can.