There was recently a campaign initiated by a school in Cape Town, that trended through social media entitled #MaketheCall. The campaign was launched by the teachers and kids at the school encouraging people in their community and broader to pick up the phone and make a call to someone close to them, perhaps someone staying indoors due to covid, but with the aim to connect people, hear a voice and start a conversation rather than a text message or one sided voice recording. This campaign was received with such a great response and many community leaders close to the school took on the challenge and challenged others to #MaketheCall.
As customer centric companies we've made sure to take on an omni channel communication approach, by providing our customers with a variety of communication channels, letting them choose which suits them best in that moment, whether by chat, Whatsapp, email, phone, social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn etc) - wow our customers really do have options!
Of all these options, the phone is the channel least used. We've become so accustomed to hiding behind our phones or laptops that holding a verbal conversation with a friend or family member is often hard enough, let alone a total stranger. When choosing to contact a company for support, how often do we successfully achieve our desired outcome by picking up the phone. Usually the calls take a while to answer, the responders aren't well versed on the solutions, overall our expectations are high and the outcomes are rather disappointing ... and this is the impression that we're left with.
Maybe it's time we turn this experience around! When being contacted by a customer who is most unhappy, let us recommend a Zoom or Teams call to resolve their issue. If on Whatsapp or chat, very often the phone and video option appear, lets ask the customer if they have 2 minutes for a call.