This tension is driving companies to look for ways to control the customer care costs that go beyond call volume reduction, with automation and outsourcing the most frequently cited levers. And 37 percent of respondents in our survey say that cost is still a key priority. The need to excel in service across multiple channels creates extra challenges for customer care leaders, especially when budgets are tight. Digital-chat services have achieved a high level of acceptance across generations, and email remains important, especially for older consumers (Exhibit 2). While customers of all generations prioritize support from a real person, they also want the flexibility to use different channels according to their needs. These findings don’t point to a future of phone-only customers, however. Premium-segment customers of all ages also prefer the phone, with many saying that live phone support is part of the premium service they are paying for. One financial-services company reports that its Gen Z customers are 30 to 40 percent more likely to call than millennials, and they use the phone as often as baby boomers. There’s also evidence that younger consumers are getting tired of the digital self-service paradigm. That finding held true even among 18- to 28-year-old Gen Z consumers, a cohort that favors text and social messaging for interpersonal communications. In a recent McKinsey survey of 3,500 consumers, respondents of all ages said that live phone conversations were among their most preferred methods of contacting companies for help and support. Separate research suggests that these leaders are right to stay focused on direct personal interaction, even when many of their customers are young digital natives. Indeed, 57 percent of leaders expect call volumes to increase by as much as one-fifth over the next one or two years. Currently, only 11 percent of respondents say reducing contact volume is important to them, a 20-percentage-point drop over 12 months. Leaders also understand that they need to engage with their customers to delight them. Finally, they are boosting their capabilities by investing in employee upskilling programs and building stronger outsourcing relationships. Second, they are working hard to build future-ready AI-enabled ecosystems for their operations. First, their priorities are shifting, from an overwhelming focus on customer experience to a multidimensional approach that also emphasizes revenue goals and technology transformation. Our survey reveals three major themes that are top of mind for customer care leaders. Meanwhile, some of the largest consumer-facing technology organizations in the world have become exceptional at digitally enabled customer care, which is lifting customer expectations everywhere, piling further pressure onto customer care staff and leadership at other companies. Those challenges include rising call volumes, high levels of employee attrition, and persistent talent shortages. To make matters worse, executives say that most of the challenges highlighted in our last survey are still present today (see sidebar, “Customer care in the spotlight”). We plan to expand future research to include more organizations headquartered outside North America and Western Europe. Most respondents said their organizations operated in multiple regions: 75 percent reported operating in North America, 58 percent in Europe, 57 percent in Asia–Pacifc, 39 percent in the Middle East and Africa, and 37 percent in Latin America. The majority of respondents said that the companies they worked for were headquartered in North America (just over 50 percent) or Western Europe (almost 25 percent), with 10 percent headquartered in India and 4 percent in China. Respondents came from companies with annual revenues of $100 million to $10 billion-plus, representing every major industry segment. This survey was our largest yet, gathering the views of more than 340 leaders at the director, senior director, vice president, and C-suite levels. The key findings in this article are based on McKinsey’s fourth global survey of customer care executives.
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