In an ever-changing and competitive business world, it is becoming increasingly challenging for companies to maintain customer loyalty. The ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2024 sheds light on consumers’ current expectations of customer service. This study provides valuable insights into the factors that influence brand loyalty and offers strategies on how companies can respond.
ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2024 shows: Brand loyalty is declining sharply
The ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2024 looks at the challenges in customer service and customer expectations in the EMEA region. It also surveyed 1,000 consumers in Switzerland, whose responses we focus on in this article.
The study results show that 71% of Swiss consumers state that they are less brand loyal today than they were two years ago. This figure reflects the general trend in the countries surveyed in the EMEA region: overall, 78% of consumers report being less brand loyal today. According to the consumers surveyed in Switzerland, this is due to financial reasons (35%), growing competition and the resulting greater choice of brands (19%), but also to disappointing experiences with brands and companies (15%).
Fast contact with customer support required
The demands on customer service are high. In addition to fast, real-time support (84%), Swiss customers expect to be able to choose the right communication channel for them (77%) and use self-service (64%) when contacting customer service.
Support from customer service employees remains important
In terms of communication channels, 16% of respondents in Switzerland prefer to interact with customer service via email, 16% contact customer service employees via online chat and 14% pick up the phone directly. The study makes it clear that human interaction in customer service is still essential for Swiss consumers, even though generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can already improve many aspects of customer service.
GenAI accepted in customer service
Acceptance of GenAI-based chatbots in customer service (72%) is high among Swiss consumers, and more than half of those surveyed would like AI-driven, precisely personalized product recommendations to be standard in customer service by 2050 (59%).
Combining people and technology and optimizing the customer experience
According to the survey, Swiss consumers expect seamless customer service (93%), a high level of problem-solving expertise (93%) and fast response times (90%) more than ever before. In order to meet these demands, it is important to combine people and technology in the best possible way.
Across all respondents in this study, it is clear that chatbots and intelligent search engines are accepted for general information, but many consumers prefer direct contact with service employees for more complex issues.
Findings from the Consumer Study 2024: 3 recommendations for customer service
To win back and strengthen customer loyalty, companies should
- Develop customer experience strategies: Customer service should take proactive rather than reactive measures aimed at long-term customer experiences in order to strengthen customer loyalty and provide a modern customer experience.
- Optimally combine people and technology: Depending on the situation, customers should be able to choose the right communication channel for them and decide whether they want support from employees or AI solutions such as chatbots and virtual assistants.
- Offer personalized experiences: Customer data should be used effectively and responsibly to create personalized and value-added experiences.
The ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2024 makes it clear that despite economic uncertainties and technological advances, the human element in customer service must not be neglected. Companies in Switzerland should focus on providing a balanced and personalized customer experience to succeed in an ever-changing market landscape.
About the ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2024 study
Between January 3 and 11, 2024, ServiceNow and Opinium Research conducted a survey of 15,000 representative adults from various countries. Respondents came from the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The survey explored their behavior and expectations of good customer service, as well as their suggestions on how companies can improve their customer service. This study can be found on the ServiceNow website.
ServiceNow Customer Service Management for successful customer service
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In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the top trends in customer service management in 2024 and ServiceNow is leading the way by integrating GenAI for natural, conversational Q&A sessions. In the free e-book “5 Steps to Optimizing Customer Experience with Artificial Intelligence” you can read more about how you can use AI to improve the customer experience.
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