Report: Millennials Most Likely to Change Retailers After Poor Social Customer Service Experience

Social customer service is recognized as one of the slowest ways for customers to have their complaints resolved.

However, customers keep using it, so it's best to pay attention to those customers.

A report from [24]7, an omnichannel customer service platform, examines what customers expect of customer service, and examines where they are most likely to abandon the process.

Eighty-four percent of the 1,200 survey respondents owning both a smartphone and tablet, and they often jump between devices during the customer service journey. Many customers are still using PC platforms as their main customer service channel, with 45-60 percent customers across all generations rating it as favorite. Regular mobile phone and store location customer service is ranked lowest with less than five percent each.

The company website their first point of contact for customer service for 64 percent of the respondents. If that fails 32 percent will make a phone call, and if that fails 77 percent of customers will attempt to contact a live agent.

When it comes to great customer service, customers want to engage with the process as they see fit, through whatever device and path they prefer, be that on the phone or through social media. Automated self service systems are the second most popular hallmarks of great service, and companies anticipating user needs was also highly ranked.

There are many factors that cause users to have a negative experience. The study found that 37 percent of respondents had actually ended a business relationship because an automated service trapped them, and they couldn't reach a representative. According to 24[7], 20 percent cited long phone wait times, and 13 percent believed the service reps weren't qualified to solve their problems.

These types complaints led up to 47 percent of respondents to move their business to another company within a day of poor customer service, provided that pricing and products were comparable. Up to 79 percent would move their business within a week following a poor customer service experience, and most of them don't even remember having positive experiences.

Check out the full report for more insights.