Gmail-based helpdesk solution Hiver has released a new report into the ways in which consumers communicate with brands.
The Customer Service Benchmark Report found that up to 75% of customer service teams deliver support outside of regular business hours – while 34% offer 24/7 support.
Other findings included the fact that 60% of customer service teams provide support across three or more channels. Phone is the most used channel, with 83% supporting it, followed by email at 77%.
Based on a survey of over 500 US-based support professionals, the stated aim of the report was to uncover trends in customer service performance and delivery. Hiver said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has transformed consumer/brand communications, with customers expecting companies to be available whenever and however they desire.
Among the other highlights were the fact that:
- 44% of those surveyed said that phone is their busiest support channel, followed by email at 23% and chat at 10%
- More than 60% of teams have a First Response Time of under 3 hours for email queries
- Almost 50% of teams have an SLA policy to resolve customer requests under 6 hours
“The results of the benchmarking report are both impressive and surprising. While a lot of companies are going the extra mile to deliver multi-channel and fast support, many still have a long way to go when it comes to exceeding customer expectations,” said Niraj Ranjan Rout, CEO, and Co-founder of Hiver.
“It would be interesting to see how in the near future, companies balance the use of technology with the human touch to deliver customer experiences worth remembering. Because one without the other clearly isn’t going to cut it anymore.”
The report comes on the back of updates to the Hiver platform late last year including productivity features such as automation and a mobile app.
“We shifted our focus from the shared inbox market to the customer service helpdesk market earlier this year, and we’ve seen an overwhelmingly positive response,” said Niraj Ranjan at the time. “Our mission is to keep customer conversations as natural as possible by enabling customer-facing teams to use Gmail as a helpdesk. In a short period, we’ve built three significant functionalities, reinforcing our commitment towards our customers and the market.”
