••• cx research
For sensitive info, live agents preferred over chat bots
While chat bots can provide customers with quick answers to FAQs or issues, when it comes to handling sensitive financial and personal information, however, most customers are more comfortable with a live agent, according to research from San Francisco-based cloud contact center firm NewVoiceMedia.
Top concerns for using chat bots for service include: lack of understanding of the issue (65 percent ); inability to solve complex issues (63 percent ) or get answers to simple questions (49 percent ); and lack of a personal service experience (45 percent ). Forty-six percent also felt that bots keep them from reaching a live person.
When asked about transactions for which they would not feel comfortable using a chat bot, a significant majority of respondents said large banking (82 percent), medical inquiries (75 percent ) and small banking (60 percent ).
Customers prefer live agents for technical support (91 percent ); getting a quick response in an emergency (89 percent ); making a complaint (86 percent ); buying an expensive item (82 percent ); purchase inquiries (79 percent ); returns and cancellations (73 percent ); booking appointments and reservations (59 percent ); and paying a bill (54 percent). The top benefit cited for dealing with chat bots was 24-hour service.
••• data privacy
Companies lag in consent-collecting
Sixty-one percent of companies surveyed said they are either not actively collecting customer consent data or they aren’t sure, according to a survey from consent and preference management solutions firm PossibleNOW, Duluth, Ga.
The survey found that 25 percent of respondents say they are not collecting consent because they are waiting to see how GDPR laws are enforced; another 24 percent said they don’t know enough about consent laws and 14 percent said that they do not believe they will be fined.
Twenty-six percent said they are still in the early phases of their consent system rollout and another 24 percent are only in the planning phases – meaning they have an intention to offer but still aren’t doing so. In fact, only 25 percent said their consent management solution allows them to share data across all departments and divisions; and another 25 percent said they can maintain historical records for each customer, a critical component to any truly compliant consent system. This means that even though one division receives consent preferences from customers, another division also marketing to the customer base doesn’t know their consent choices.