Most preferred channels

According to American Express, 60% of US consumers prefer self-service options for simple inquiries. Support pages receive an average of 325,000 views per year, with email being the most used support channel. Live chat is the second most popular, with social media being the least used. Despite consumer preferences, email is preferred for support inquiries by the majority of businesses. 42% of customers prefer live chat services, followed by email (23%) and social media or forums (16%).

Each consumer group has different preferences when it comes to contacting businesses. For example, some prefer live chat, while others prefer phone support. However, one common characteristic that almost all consumer groups share is that they prefer self-service options to actual support interactions. According to a study by American Express, 60% of US consumers say their go-to channel for simple inquiries is a digital self-serve tool.

Self-service is in high demand because it is faster than traditional support and requires less effort. As a result, an average business receives more than 325,000 views of its support pages every year.

So, how popular are other channels? According to SuperOffice, 42% of customers prefer online chat services, 23% email, and 16% social media or forums.

However, despite consumer preferences, our findings showcase that email is the most used support channel, with the average business receiving approximately 10,500 emails a month. Live chat is the second most popular, with the average company receiving over 6,000 chats a month, followed by 672 phone calls and 394 knowledge base submissions. The least used communication channel was social media, with over 60 Facebook messages, 60 Tweets, and 2 Instagram comments per month.

Please note that our customer service stats are purely based on data collected from our clients, which span across multiple industries. Therefore, the data can be entirely different for purely eCommerce-focused businesses or those in another sector.