A new survey of consumers in 16 countries, half of which are in Europe, has found that consumers are growing more frustrated with companies that cannot respond to their customer service needs via multiple communication channels.

The survey, conducted by Genesys Telecommunications Labs, a unit of Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, and research firm Ovum, found that in 2009 more than 90 percent of consumers have used multiple communication channels to reach customer service, but few companies had actually tied those varied channels together into a complete system of customer care. 

While many companies are trying to expand their use of new communications technologies, “Less than 10 percent of companies are prepared today for cross-channel conversations,” Daniel Hong, lead analyst of customer interaction at Ovum, wrote in the report. “The survey showed that customer frustration continues to grow as consumers attempt to contact companies using existing communication channels that do not transfer the context of the contact from one channel to another. It’s imperative that an enterprise engage consumers on the customers’ terms or risk losing them.”

The survey, which was designed to determine the costs of poor customer service, to measure changes in consumer behavior, and to understand the challenges for enterprises in implementing customer service solutions across multiple communication channels, included a global pool of 8,800 consumers, hailing from Europe, Asia, North and South America, and the Pacific. The following European countries were represented: Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Russia, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Other countries represented were the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, China, India, and New Zealand.

Consumers also expressed a strong desire for better human responses to communications started through alternate channels. While the majority of those in the survey listed voice communication as the preferred channel, other channels, such as text message, email, live chat, Web sites, and social media such as Twitter and Facebook, were gaining ground. There was also a gain in cross-channel communications—contact that occurs when a consumer initiates a request or poses a query in one communication channel and then continues that same conversation through another medium.

The survey also found that:

• A majority of consumers started on the Web and then went to a customer service representative. A large number of people identified telephone conversations with live agents as that the most satisfying channel of customer service, and further identified better agent training as one of the customer care industry’s top needs.

• Though no single industry overwhelmingly was able to deliver cross channel conversations, the financial services industry and consumer products manufacturers seemed to have addressed the issue better than most other industries.

• Consumers still largely prefer to interact with customer service via the phone, followed in second by email; Web self-service finished a distant third. 

• Consumers want to be able to conduct self-service via the Web or interactive voice response system and then get live assistance from an agent if needed without having to re-enter information already provided. The leading suggestion on how to best improve cross channel conversations from 44 percent of the respondents was to provide “better human service,” which includes the agent already having the information provided via a different channel.

• When asked where organizations should invest more in customer service communication, consumers overwhelmingly asked for better integration of human contact center agents with other channels. They also wanted newer delivery methods, including avatars, social forums, and multimedia.