The pandemic has changed our daily lives with people working from home, maintaining physical distance and opting for less face-to-face interaction. An 800 respondent survey undertaken by CallCare, experts in customer service experience management looked to reveal the extent the pandemic has had on UK consumer expectations.
Change In Customer Shopping Patterns:
Though shops have opened in most of areas, consumer-shopping habits have changed. Nowadays people prefer to shop online rather than going to a store. 51% of the survey respondents have mentioned online shopping as convenient when shopping for essential items. Online shopping also brings major benefits including more time to research items before purchasing or being less impulsive while trying to purchase required items.
The survey also revealed that 29% of people spend one to two hours researching before shopping while 28% of people (16- to 54-year-old) research between two to four hours before shopping in the UK. Although online shopping witnessed a major boost, more than half of respondents still wanted to experience in-store hopping again when restrictions were lifted.
Customer Service Expectations:
The pandemic has also triggered major changes in customer services especially when it comes to retail, finance, and hospitality and fast food industries. Digital strategies and operations helped to improve customer service in the UK and is one of the reasons why only 33% of shoppers faced issues while shopping online in 2020 despite stores being closed, compared to 41% of shoppers facing difficulties in 2019.
Though some people in the UK worry about sharing data online and are concerned about privacy while shopping, data from surveys suggests that this was less of an issue for individuals in 2020.
Impact Of Bad Customer Service:
The impact of bad customer interactions can be devastating for businesses. Customers can abandon their shopping cart or completely avoid purchasing from a site. The reputation of that company can be jeopardised through word of mouth amongst consumers.
The majority of the customers consider value for money as one of the main reasons to purchase from a brand. Nearly 61% of the people have mentioned that they would prefer shopping online in 2021 even though restrictions have eased off.
The survey data discussed provides a great insight into how customer mind-sets have changed since the onset of the pandemic. Share your customer service experiences using #2021Customers on social.
