Consumer Views of Live Online Help Voice and Text Chat

A consumer research study commissioned by ATG

ATG Research Report | September, 2009

 Survey Background

In June 2009, ATG commissioned a consumer survey to examine the relative importance of live online help,
including click to call and click to chat services, and to explore when and why consumers opt for a live voice
or live chat interaction when seeking help online. The online survey polled 1,052 U.S. consumers, ages
18 years and older, and asked them a range of questions about how they prefer to use online customer serv-
ice when browsing, researching, and buying a broad range of products and services. E-commerce sectors in-
cluded retail and consumer goods, financial services and banking, travel and hospitality, telecommunications
services, and cable TV.

Specific topics covered in the survey include:

• The relative importance of live online help – including click to call and click to chat – on business-to-consumer
e-commerce sites;
• Key factors and considerations that drive consumers’ use of different customer service options, including
live help;
• The relative usefulness of live voice help (via click to call) and live text chat (via click to chat) in different
phases of the online buying cycle and among different demographics.

1
 Executive Summary

Live voice is As a result of evolving consumer habits and expectations, the acceleration and growing ease of buying
online, and challenging macro-economic conditions – consumers increasingly require live help when brows-
still the preferred ing, researching, and buying products and services online. Moreover, data suggests that specific circum-
method of stances and scenarios drive consumers to seek assistance in the form of a live voice interaction or text
chat. Finally, despite broader availability of text chat versus click to call, live voice is still the preferred
communication method of communication for most online buyers in most situations. Online businesses should consider
for most online closing this gap and offering consumers an integrated live voice and text chat solution.

buyers in most Key findings of the survey include:

• Live help services increase shopper conversion. Access to live online help – via live voice or live text chat –
situations. is very important to online shoppers and plays a key role in converting them from browsers into buyers.
It was rated the third most “important” of seven core Web site features, after clear pricing information,
and the ability to quickly browse and research products and services.
• Consumers want their questions answered while they shop. Online shoppers, especially those who shop
frequently, want to be sure they can get their questions answered right away by a real person when they
are browsing and shopping online. The complexity of questions, sensitivity of information, prices of goods
and services, and problems transacting online all drive consumers to choose live assisted services such as
click to call and click to chat.
• Consumers want choices for live help. Nearly 85% of consumers who browse, research, and buy products
and services online want the choice of click to call or click to chat to get live sales or service assistance.
While consumers see value in both, their preferences and use of each vary, depending on product pricing,
complexity, the information required of the consumer. In fact, 67% of the respondents reported that
having live help options in the form of click to call and click to chat together would be useful when making
purchases online.

2
 Executive Summary continued

Nearly 85% of • A live human voice – without having to call a toll free number and wait
on hold – is the preferred live help option for most consumers in most
consumers who situations. Yet text chat is preferred in specific situations – mainly when
browse, research, questions are more simple and straightforward – indicating a need to
offer both options and allow the consumer to choose.
and buy products
• Demand for click to call outpaces its availability on shopping sites. Nearly
and services twice as many consumers have tried click to chat versus click to call.
online want the These findings indicate a lack of broad availability of click to call options on
consumer Web sites. Businesses offering only a toll-free number that
choice of routes online consumers into their standard interactive voice response (IVR)
click to call or system are potentially losing a substantial number of transactions.

click to chat
to get live sales or
service assistance.

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 Research Highlights

Access to live online help – via live voice or live text chat – is the third most
important feature to online shoppers.
When asked to rank the features most important to them on a Web site:

• 68% of respondents reported that a reasonable price of a product or

service is the main factor that drives them to visit one site over another.

• 75% ranked having a user-friendly site that enables them to research,

browse, and purchase goods and services as one of the top three features
of shopping online.

• 58% of respondents felt that having instant access to live experts, via
click to call or click to chat technologies, was one of the top three features.

• 58% of respondents have used live assistance – either live call or live
chat – compared with 64% that have used a toll-free number.

4
 Research Highlights continued

The complexity of questions, sensitivity of information required to complete

online transactions, prices of goods and services, and problems transacting
online all drive consumers to choose live help services such as click to call
and click to chat.
Online shoppers prefer their questions are answered, right away, by a real
person while they are browsing, researching or buying on a Web site. This is
especially true for those consumers who make online purchases on a daily
basis. Some of these factors were also significantly stronger among older
age groups.

• 58% of respondents would seek out live assistance if there was not
enough information available about a product or service they were
interested in purchasing. This number jumps to 69% for shoppers aged 55+.

• 53% cited that trouble completing a form or experiencing challenges

at check out would encourage them to request live help via click to call
or click to chat.

• 37% stated they would rely on live help options if a return policy was
not clearly stated on the site.

• Only 28% felt that hearing about discounts or promotions would

drive them to seek live help. 15% of 25 to 34-year-olds would use live help
to hear about discounts and promotions, compared to 40% of those who
were 55+.

5
 Research Highlights continued

Online shoppers The use of click to call and click to chat services – individually and together
– is considered very/extremely useful by the majority of consumers.
prefer their
When asked to rank the methods which they believed would be the most
questions are useful when seeking assistance from a website, consumers showed a
answered right strong preference for click to call and click to chat.

away, by a real • Overall, 70% of consumers say click to call would be very/extremely
useful when making an online purchase.
person, while they
are browsing, • 52% of consumers say live chat would be very/extremely useful when
making an online purchase.
researching or
buying on a • 67% of the respondents reported that having live help options in the
form of click to call and click to chat together would be very/extremely
Web site. useful when making purchases online.

• In comparison, 59% of respondents do not believe e-mail queries

to customer service or FAQ pages – the most common customer service
features found on online stores today – are useful.

6
 Research Highlights continued

More consumers in more situations prefer a live voice agent or click to call 70

option instead of using live chat. 60

The type of live assistance preferred by online shoppers – click to call or 50

click to chat – depends on multiple factors including the value of a product 40

or service, the difficulty or simplicity of the query posed, or the sensitivity 30

of information that must be presented to complete an online transaction.
20
Broadly speaking, however, consumers prefer a live voice in the majority of 58% 42% 73% 27% 72% 28%
situations. 10

0
• Click to call is strongly preferred as the price of a product rises and $100-500 >$500 Sensitive Info

product information gets more complicated, or as the information Live Call Live Chat

customers are asked to provide becomes more sensitive – such as

financial information, social security numbers, etc. Online Shopping Scenario/Need

• When seeking assistance with a purchase or a service that costs less The gap between the clear
than $100, respondents found almost equal value in interacting via live preference vs. availability for live
voice help reveals a key opportunity
call (47%) or live chat (53%).
for online businesses to increase
• When considering a purchase or service that costs between $100 and online sales and loyalty by offering
$500, respondents preferred a live call (67%) over a live chat (33%). click to call as a more immediate,
live assistance option to a standard
• When inquiring about products or services that involve sensitive toll-free number, or less personal
information, such as a social security number, consumers preferred a live text chat.
call (78%) over a live chat (22%).
• When consumers had simple queries such as shipping and pick up
options or basic questions about a product or service, there is a clear
preference for live chat (60%) over live call (40%).

7
 Research Highlights continued

Nearly twice as many consumers have tried click to chat versus click to call,
indicating a lack of broad availability of click to call, despite its clear preference
among consumers.
Despite the clear preference for a live voice versus live chat for the majority
of live help needs – nearly twice as many respondents have tried click to chat
versus click to call.
• According to the survey, 37% of consumers had used click to chat, whereas
only 21% had used click to call.
• Consumers that would choose a live voice versus live text chat do so
because:
:: They want to make sure the representative understands their questions.
This was especially true with consumers ages 45+.
:: They want a real human being versus canned responses. Again, this was
particularly the case with the 45+ age group.
:: They think voice interaction is faster.
• Consumers that would choose live chat versus live call do so because:
:: They can multitask while they are waiting for a chat response.
:: They think chat is faster and that chat ensures the representative will
understand their questions – the same reasons cited by those consumers
that chose live call versus live chat.

Broadly speaking, however, consumers prefer

a live voice in the majority of situations.

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Survey Results: Profile of Survey Respondents
1. What is your age? 2. What is your gender?

30%

25%

20%

15% Male Female

14% 14% 23% 20% 29% 51% 49%
10%

5%

0 total test participants: 1052

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ male: 534 | female: 517 | prefer not to answer 1

total test participants: 1052

3. Is English your first language? If no, please explain what your first language 4. How frequently do you browse / research products or services (consumer
is in the space provided. goods, food & beverages, travel options, cell phone plans, credit card and
banking options, insurance plans, etc.) online?

Daily 26%

Weekly 36%
No 3%
Monthly 16%

4-6 Times per year 13%

Yes 97% Never 8%

Other, please specify 1%

total test participants: 1052 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

yes: 1018 | no: 34

9
 Survey Results: Profile of Survey Respondents

5. How frequently do you make purchases of products or complete applications 6. What is the typical price range or value of orders or transactions you
and forms for services online? have placed online? Ranges may include lower-priced purchases (clothing
or shoes), mid-range purchases (appliances or electronics) and expensive or
valuable transactions (vacation packages or mortgage applications).

Daily 6% $1-$100 73%

Weekly 19% $101-$250 26%

Monthly 30% $251-$500 9%

4-6 Times per year 31% $501-$1000 4%

Never 12% $1001+ 3%

Other, please specify 2% other 5%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

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Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features

7. Rank the features you find to be most important on a Web site, with “1” being most
important and “7” least important.

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assistance from a Web site, with “1” being most useful and “6” least useful.
8. Please rank the methods which you believe would be most useful when seeking

1
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Survey Results: Profile of Survey Respondents
 Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features

9. Which of the following methods of customer service have you used when seeking
assistance from a Web site? Choose all that apply.

64%
Calling a customer service 800 number (from a land line or mobile phone)

21%
Clicking a button to have a customer service representative call you directly (no waiting on hold)

37%
Clicking a button to initiate a text chat interaction with customer representatives

53%
Writing an email query to customer service and waiting for a reply back

49%
Online self service (FAQ page)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

13
 Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features

10. What are some of the factors that would drive you to seek live assistance from a Web site
when making a purchase online? (Pick up to three)

Need more information about the product/service than is on the site 58%

Product/service requires sensitive information (e.g. social security number) 32%

Product/service is complicated and has many steps (e.g. cell phone or cable plan) 25%

Product / service is expensive (e.g. appliance or TV) 13%

Return policy is not clearly stated on the site 37%

Shipping and pick-up options and timing 20%

Want to hear about discounts or promotions before buying 28%

Trouble completing the order/checking out 53%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

14
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Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
 Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features

12. For the scenarios below in which you chose interacting via live call vs. live chat, what
reasons would drive you to initiate a voice interaction?

I want to be sure the representative understands me and my questions 57%

I don't want pre-written or canned responses - I want a real human being 51%

I think it's faster to answer my questions with a voice conversation 50%

I'd rather speak with a representative than type 44%

I'm not comfortable typing, writing or spelling 12%

Other, please specify 7%

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

16
 Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features

13. For the scenarios below in which you chose interacting via live chat vs. live call, what
reasons would drive you to initiate a chat interaction?

I can do other things online while I’m waiting for a text response 47%

I think it's faster to answer my questions with a text interaction 26%

I want to be sure the representative understands me and my questions 23%

I'd just prefer to type rather than speak to a representative 21%

Other, please specify 15%

I'm not comfortable speaking on the phone 12%

0 100 200 300 400 500

17
 Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features

14. Usefulness of live chat options while shopping online 16. Usefulness of having both live call and live chat options together

21% 38%
Extremely useful Extremely useful

31% 29%
Very useful Very useful

32% 27%
Neutral Neutral

9% 3%
Not very useful Not very useful

7% 2%
Not useful at all Not useful at all

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

15. Usefulness of live call options while shopping online

37%
Extremely useful

33%
Very useful

25%
Neutral

4%
Not very useful

2%
Not useful at all

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

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 Methodology

Responses to ATG’s Live Help survey were generated from a pool of 1,052 respondents, age 18 and older,
living in the continental United States. Survey respondents were selected from a panel of more than
2.5 million individuals, and were profiled across more than 500 attributes, such as demographics, lifestyle,
and behavioral characteristics. Respondents were further differentiated by characteristics such as browsing
and purchasing frequency online, to ensure the sample represented was active on the Web.
The study was commissioned by ATG (Art Technology Group; NASDAQ: ATG), and deployed by independent
online market research firm, MarketTools, during the second quarter of 2009. This survey has an error rate
of +/- 3% for each 1,000 respondents.

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www.atg.com

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