Survey Shows that Companies are More Concerned with Sales than with Customer Loyalty (Brazil)

December 1, 2013

SÁO PAULO, BRAZIL – December 2013 – A survey conducted by Zendesk, a leading provider of cloud-based software for customer service and call management, among 7,000 people in seven countries shows that 73% of consumers think companies are more concerned with sales generation in several channels than with delivering a consistent and seamless experience through the same channels. And when their inquiries are not answered or they do not get a quick response in other channels, they reach to the telephone as their primary contact method.

The survey was produced by Loudhouse, an independent research institute based in London, at Zendesk’s request, and analyzed the opinions of online consumers between 18 and 64 years of age, from the USA, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan and United Kingdom. 1,000 buyers were interviewed in each country.

“Omni-channel” refers to the ability to have a consistent and uniform service or purchase experience through multiple service channels – such as email, telephone, chat or at the physical store. In the survey, over one third (37%) of consumers stated they expect to talk to the same service representative in whatever channel used, and 47% expect to have the option to return goods through a different channel than the one used to buy the product. Despite these expectations, only 7% are extremely satisfied with the multi-channel experience offered by customer service.

“The consumer journey does not end at the check-out,” says João Olivério, Marketing Director at Zendesk Brazil. “Brands are failing to take the omni-channel sales experience to customer support. To understand consumer demands today, they need to create a single customer service experience through all channels.”

Inefficient service in other channels forces consumers back to telephone support as a resource to avoid failures. Because the telephone is perceived as a means to obtain a faster response, 54% of consumers still use it as a primary contact medium for service. When an email is not answered, 71% of people resort to the telephone afterwards. When requests made through social media are not answered, 55% of people use the telephone. If the telephone is not answered, 54% of people try calling again.

Brazilians are the ones who use multiple platforms the most and are the most demanding.In Brazil, there are multiple channels that can be used to complete a purchase. According to the survey, 86% of purchases made over the last six months, whether in physical or online stores, have involved different platforms.

In contrast with the Japanese, Brazilian consumers are very impatient. 40% of them admit having a behavior that is less tolerant of problems with products and services in relation to other nationalities. Only 8% claim to accept such inconvenience.

80% of consumers state they want an answer within less than half a day when the contact is made by email. The expectation for solving problems within 24 hours is even higher (90% of consumers). With regards to answers via social media, the expectation is also high: 79% expect a response within two hours.

About Zendesk

Zendesk builds cloud software for better customer service, bringing companies and their customers closer together. With Zendesk, companies engage directly and openly with customers, building more meaningful customer relationships that last a lifetime. More than 30,000 companies, such as Gilt Groupe, Disney and Box, use Zendesk to provide service to more than 200 million people worldwide. Founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, Zendesk has offices in nine countries and funding from Charles River Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs, GGV Capital, Index Ventures, Matrix Partners and Redpoint Ventures.

This is a translation of a press release originally issued in Portuguese.