According to a global survey by cloud communications provider Vonage, Asia consumers have incresed their use of digital channels by 52 percent in the retail & ecommerce sector along with, 51 percent in education, 49 percent (banking & finance), 46 percent (healthcare services), 43 percent (media, gaming & online dating) and 31 percent in the transportation and travel sectors.

Vonage says its 10th Global Customer Engagement Report, based on a survey of 5,000 consumers from 14 countries, uncovered just how much the pandemic accelerated the global adoption of newer communications channels while increasing fragmentation in channel preferences, especially in the ways that consumers interact with organisations.

According to Vonage the research highlights changes over the past two years that reinforce the need for businesses and service providers to transform their customer engagement strategies to become more agile and adapt to permanent changes accelerated by the COVID era.

The report notes that consumers who embraced new and emerging channels of communication during the pandemic did not revert back to old habits and Vonage says customer engagement has permanently changed and there will be no return to the pre-2020 era.

The usage of digital channels (video, chatbots, non-SMS messaging apps, etc.) has grown considerably, while more traditional channels (mobile voice calls, email) have held steady.

"COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how businesses operate and how consumers interact with those organisations," said Joy Corso, Chief Marketing Officer for Vonage.

"Our research shows that digital channels have rapidly emerged alongside traditional methods of communication, with sharp and sustained growth in video, chatbots, app-based messaging and calling, while email and traditional voice calls remain relatively status quo.

“This underscores the need to connect with and engage with customers in multiple ways, in their preferred modality. We are in an age where customers expect ultra-fast, seamless and dynamic communications and engagement.”

Vonage reveals that it explored some of the customer service hurdles that surveyed consumers reported and the business impact of these frustrations.

For example, 46 percent of consumers are very likely to stop buying from a business or using its services if their calls repeatedly go unanswered with no other channels available for help.

Vonage says this highlights the importance of secondary and tertiary choices for communication and offering another channel such as live chat can ensure that the customer’s needs are still met.

Observing that “video is the new phone call, Vonage says the research revealed that since January 2020, globally, there has been a 300 percent growth in the number of people who prefer to connect with businesses via video.

Three in five consumers worldwide are video chatting with a business or service provider more now than they were 18 months ago, according to the research, and four in five expect their video chats with friends and family to stay the same (55%) or increase even further (35%) during the next six months.

Additionally:

• Consumers are using video chat to connect with healthcare services 50 percent more today than they were during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.
• With the advent of widespread distance learning, 37 percent of consumers prefer video chat when learning and studying remotely with a tutor.
• At work, 38 percent of respondents favor video calls when collaborating with their team or customers on an important project. Digital engagement while working increased for at least half of respondents in each region. APAC saw a 65 percent increase since the start of the pandemic.
  

The research found that emerging communications channels that saw an increase in preference include messaging via social messaging apps and chatbots - and consumer preference for messaging apps has doubled since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Additionally, consumers now use and prefer WhatsApp both to call and text more than any other messaging channel, beating even SMS and Facebook Messenger.

In fact, the research reveals that WhatsApp is now 160 percent more popular than SMS - 27% of users prefer to use WhatsApp to communicate with a service provider, making it the preferred messaging app in Asia, followed by SMS (22%), WeChat (16%) and Line (14%).

Vonage says that businesses must always be agile and ready to adapt to changes in the market, but the pandemic made the call for agility even louder.

“While a remote delivery of services is crucial to business survival today, that ability will mean little if the experience isn’t frictionless, seamless and embedded into the applications customers are already comfortable using.

“Organisations that meet consumers on their communications channel of choice, while limiting frustrations, may emerge from this turbulent era stronger than before,” Vonage predicts.

Vonage points out that Thinca, Japan-based provider of cloud-based CTI solution, KAIKURA, has been able to enhance its CRM solution and meet its customers’ desire for omnichannel communications, via the Vonage SMS API and Vonage Video API.

"Business communication needs are constantly evolving and that has only accelerated more so since the start of the pandemic,” says Takahiro Ejiri, CEO of Thinca.

“Our customers rely on us for seamless and effective tools to improve work processes, enhance customer experience and stay connected with their stakeholders through omnichannel communications.”

To download Vonage’s full report click here.