••• cx research
Omnichannel hasn’t reached customer service
Omnichannel should be a customer service strategy as much as a sales strategy but many retailers are creating a disconnect with consumers by overlooking the customer service aspect, according to a white paper (Why Today’s Omni-Channel Strategies See a Disconnect Between Brands and Consumers) from Columbus, Ohio, software firm DeviceBits.
An online survey commissioned by DeviceBits revealed that 31.9 percent of retailers encourage calls to customer service agents and 18.8 percent encourage in-store visits for customer inquiries – an old-school approach to customer service. Yet a similar online survey presented to 2,250 consumers showed that 23.9 percent desire online materials and brochures to provide answers for customer inquiries.
Where else is the customer experience lacking in the omnichannel approach? Fifty-five percent of marketers collect customer data but aren’t analyzing results to better predict customer needs; 16 percent of marketers said they aren’t collecting any data at all on customer service inquiries; 31 percent of customers said they still get transferred two-to-three times per phone visit; and 48 percent of customers said they still need to input personal info at least twice per phone visit.
••• health care research
A growing interest in fertility for Millennial women
Millennial women are thinking about their fertility and are embracing both information and technology around it, according to a survey conducted for New York-based women’s health company Celmatix.
The survey, which included 3,000 college-educated women between the ages of 22-35 responding over a three-week period in December of 2016 who currently did not have children but were interested in having them one day, revealed that 87 percent of women surveyed think about their ability to have children one day and that the majority of these women, 74 percent, are concerned about their ability to do so.
With this concern comes a strong interest from Millennial women to better understand their reproductive health. Nearly 75 percent of all respondents had discussed or would like to discuss their fertility with their OB-GYN. Nearly all women surveyed, 97 percent, were interested in learning how genetics might impact their health, with 80 percent of women specifically interested in the role that genetics may play in their fertility.
Findings also showed how open this generation of women is to using advanced medical technologies to conceive. Nearly 70 percent of women would consider using IVF if it would increase their chances of having the number of children they desired, with only 16 percent unsure and needing more information on the treatment option. Another 63 percent of women said they would consider egg-freezing as an option to have children in the future, indicating a comfort among Millennials in taking actions to better control their fertility timelines.