Commentary

APP Users Ditch APPs Without Customer Support

According to a new survey by Helpshift and Radius Global Market Research, emailed to Retail Dive, and published by Cara Salpini, 81% of Americans use mobile APPs to check social media, followed by reading the news or playing games (both 44%), ordering food (35%) and doing work-related tasks (22%).

Despite the widespread use of mobile APPs, the study found that 69% of mobile APP users report having problems when using APPs, 27% of whom say they have those issues on a daily or weekly basis. However, says the report, 60% of Gen Z will not use an APP or website that is too slow to load or too difficult to navigate.

Among the main frustrations is customer support; 47% of the mobile APP users surveyed said they would delete a frustrating APP if it doesn’t provide customer support. Those that wouldn’t delete, said they would give the APP a bad review (24%), trash talk it to friends (19%) or complain about it on social media (18%).

Of those surveyed, 59% of mobile APP users said they prefer messaging to email communication, especially for talking to customer service agents. APPs that offer live, in- APP customer service were popular with respondents, 46% of whom said they would try an APP that offered it, along with 34% who said they would use the APP, recommend it to friends (23%) or buy it because of that feature (16%).

Abinash Tripathy, founder and CEO of Helpshift said "… mobile APPs that provide more sophisticated in- APP support are more likely to enjoy stronger customer engagement and loyalty… (underscoring) the point that people want to communicate with customer service agents the way they communicate with everyone else, through messaging and APPs…”

Gurjit Sandhu, senior marketing specialist at Yes Lifecycle Marketing, says "Brands should… make it as convenient as possible for mobile users to make a purchase… because customers are liable to move on in no more than a split-second… (if the mobile) APP and the website is clunky or messy…”

For additional information about this report by Helpshift and Radius Global Market Research, please visit here.

 

 

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