I read an article titled, “Phone vs. Email: What the customer wants” from an industry newsletter and it started me thinking… What do Infusionsoft customers want?
Recently, we added a new way, through our Fusebox, to submit your cases online in December ‘08. Good news to report, as last week, 40% of customers did just that. Take a moment and visit it, if you haven’t seen it before. To access the Fusebox within your application, simply go to Help and click on Take me to my Support Center.
Approximately 60% of our customers used the phone to contact us about their support issues. Based on the data, it would be relatively easy for me to assume that customers prefer to use the phone. But is that really true? Maybe most of you didn’t know that we respond everyday to issues submitted or that you can see fresh and updated information regarding your ticket if you submit it online, or even that your answered tickets are saved for you to review just in case you just can’t remember how you solved a problem before.
There are many compelling reasons to submit your cases online, but what if you would rather call? With an impressive 2 minute average hold time, I can see why. And with the great support team ready to help, it’s a very comforting feeling to know they are there, on the other side of the phone, right when you need them.
The article goes on to state that based on industry research, the answer relates to the generation. It states:
“Generational differences seem to be the biggest indicator of a person’s preference. Younger customers seem to want email only, while the older generation prefers the phone.”
–The Scoop from the Help Desk Institute, August 2008
I’m curious to hear what you think. There are no wrong answers; I’d like to hear what our customers prefer. For customer support, which is better for you, phone or email? Share your thoughts in the comments below. 
[Image credit: .bullish on Flickr]
I think it depends on how soon you want an answer. I prefer email that way you have a record of what has been said between the two parties should you need to look back on it. But if you need an answer right away then I would say the phone.
thanks
Norma
It is my belief that older people predominately use the phone because they don’t usually get the answers they need via email. It is relatively easy to migrate customer support from phone to email. All the customer cares about is speed and accuracy. Prove to the customer they can get quicker, faster, and better answers via email or instant chat and calls to phone support decrease. One must first educate the customer on how to ask the right questions though.
Flywheel
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