Study: Cell Phone Users Demand More Self-Service Customer Care

[aruljothi]

Let's be honest with each other: When you call your cell phone carrier, do you secretly think you're about to cruise through the call pleasantly or fear you're going to be hit by a Mack truck?

Either way, consumers are increasingly demanding quality customer care and a new study by the Yankee Group quantifies just how much this is true. Even more, consumers are demanding the use of their cell phones in a self-service manner to complete basic functions themselves.

The new Yankee Group study revealed that 62 percent of users "want to bypass automated systems and be given an opportunity to use their mobile phone screen to complete simple inquiries that should not require agent intervention".

In addition, the report says more than 60 percent of mobile phone users now believe that on-device self-service is an important feature and they want direct and immediate access to the technology right from their mobile phone.

"Additionally, [more than] 80 percent of users surveyed want the ability to complete an entire customer service interaction – such as paying a bill or upgrading an account – directly on their mobile device versus enduring long wait times for a live agent," the study said.

The Yankee Group study, which was announced on Tuesday by speech recognition firm Nuance Communications, says in excess of 60 percent of consumers have contacted customer care more than three times in the last six months.

The cell phone users surveyed in the study had an age span across all demographics with 18- to 24-year-olds admitting to using their mobile phone all the time while the 55- to 58-year-old age group also held strong at 42 percent.