Survey reveals UK consumers crave the personal touch when buying

Despite a rise in online self-service, in industries ranging from insurance and travel to utilities, a survey, commissioned by intelligent call tracking software company ResponseTap, reveals that only 15% of people don’t think human interaction is important at all when they are making a purchase. The study, conducted amongst 1,000 UK adults, also shows that 62% of consumers want a more ‘personalised’ experience when buying over the phone.

Consumers now expect a seamless path to purchase. For businesses who have spent years optimising their online booking journeys to offer the best personalised web experience, this is a wake-up call to include offline sales in this process. This research proves that if businesses can instantly analyse user data to route inbound sales calls to specialist handlers, who are already aware of the reason for their call, this would massively enhance the customer experience and propensity to buy.

And contrary to anecdotal evidence suggesting young people would prefer to access information purely online, the research highlights that in fact 46% of 16-24-year olds believe speaking to a specialist is important. The group where this mattered most was 35-44-year olds, where 67% believe it makes a difference.

Ross Fobian, CEO of ResponseTap, commented: “Customer expectations are higher than ever before and personalised experiences across channels are clearly being craved. As we emerge from lockdown, those businesses that can meet and exceed customer expectations could well be key to their survival. The survey also proves the value of human interaction and it’s reassuring to see young people continuing to embrace this.”

ABOUT RESPONSETAP

Providing the missing piece of data to optimise marketing spend and increase phone call conversion rates, ResponseTap’s products gives brands and contact centres incomparable power. Since 2008 the business has been pioneering advanced visitor-level call tracking, heralding many industry firsts, including integration into Google AdWords and Google Analytics. In 2020 ResponseTap launched its ground-breaking contact centre product Ember, to personalise the phone call experience and, in an industry-first, kill off the need for businesses to use IVRs.