NewVoiceMedia Shows 68 Percent Prefer Live Agent Support to Self-Help

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 28, 2016) - NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud technology, which helps businesses sell more, serve better and grow faster, has found that while self-help options continue to advance, 68 percent of U.S. citizens would still prefer a live agent to handle their customer service queries.

Are businesses ready to replace agents with bots?

Recent media coverage has tunneled into the chatbot developments of companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Apple. Many are hailing AI as the future of customer service, and companies are quickly jumping on the bandwagon, eager to deploy their own smart communication solutions. However, NewVoiceMedia's poll of more than 1,000 U.S. citizens shows that customers may not be ready for a complete AI service overhaul.

• 68 percent of respondents claim they would prefer to interact with a live agent rather than automated self-help (FAQs/guided support, dial directories, chatbots, etc.) when dealing with customer service
• 9 percent prefer the self-help option and 24 percent feel they appreciate both options equally
• Below is a breakdown of customers' preferences for automated self-help or live agent help in different customer service situations:

Type of service		Self-help		Live agent
Technical support		13%		86%
Financial reporting		22%		56%
Returns/cancelations		28%		60%
Appointment booking		41%		52%
Purchase inquiries		24%		64%
Complaints		13%		77%
None (Do not prefer in any of the above categories)		39%		4%

• When asked in which areas customer service should improve, 63 percent of respondents indicated personalized service, 66 percent availability, 71 percent response time, 29 percent do-it-yourself options, 40 percent number of communication options and 3 percent none.

"It's not that technological advancements cannot improve the customer experience. They absolutely can. But companies must first have a foundation of good support built on fundamentals that include phone functionality and in-depth customer insights," comments Jonathan Gale, CEO of NewVoiceMedia. "Many companies have much to improve within their existing policies and procedures. Our survey shows the number one complaint in customer service continues to be response time, and that is a simple infrastructure issue."

Interested in learning more about how companies are working to improve the customer experience? Attend Gale's keynote at NewVoiceMedia's inaugural conference, Connect, on June 30.

For further information, visit www.newvoicemedia.com.

The data for this survey was collected using SurveyMonkey Audience and 1,019 respondents. Information on how respondents are recruited to SurveyMonkey is available here: www.surveymonkey.com/mp/audience

About NewVoiceMedia
NewVoiceMedia powers customer connections that transform businesses globally. The leading vendor's award-winning cloud customer contact platform revolutionizes the way organizations connect with their customers worldwide, enabling them to deliver a personalized and unique customer service experience and drive a more effective sales team. With a true cloud environment and proven 99.999% platform availability, NewVoiceMedia ensures complete flexibility, scalability and reliability.

Spanning 128 countries and six continents, NewVoiceMedia's 600+ customers include PhotoBox, MobileIron, TNT, Lumesse, JustGiving, Canadian Cancer Society and Wowcher. For more information visit www.newvoicemedia.com or follow NewVoiceMedia on Twitter @NewVoiceMedia.