Tech consumers ‘satisfied’ with customer service but ‘concerned’ by intrusion

While it can often be hard work to get a customer service representative to listen to you, there are ongoing concerns around whether our connected devices are listening to our conversations, what data they are collecting and how they are generally intruding into what we do in our personal lives.

The Drum linked up with strategic insight and research specialists Two Ears One Mouth to access its ongoing consumer sentiment tracking research tool to create the Consumer Tech Trends Report. The report aimed to gather genuine consumer sentiment around some of the key issues that concern consumers about the consumer tech gadgets that are an everyday part of their lives – from iPhones to smart refrigerators and from digital cameras to wearables that aim to keep us fit and healthy.

Why we buy what we buy

First things first, what drives consumers to buy the devices they buy? According to our research – and it may come as little surprise – price is the key driver in what tech people purchase. Almost three-quarters of consumers base their purchases on price. That said, price can often be a double-edged sword, particularly in the area of smartphones and connected devices where monthly contract deals can often mask the overall total cost you are paying for your device. Whoever checks on their mobile contract what they’ll ultimately pay across their three-year contract. Often, we don’t want to know as long as the monthly payment is affordable.

Perhaps surprisingly, ‘Brand’ comes it as the fourth factor in consumer tech purchasing decisions. Less than half of consumers – 41% – say that ‘brand’ plays a part in deciding what consumer tech they purchase. Functionality/performance is preferred over ‘Brand’ by 65% of respondents, with Durability/Reliability being a key factor for 61% of consumers who responded to our research.

Customer service – hit or miss?

Customer service and aftercare are an important part of any consumer tech purchase. While putting a new fuse in a plug is within the capabilities of most consumers, fixing dodgy microchips usually isn’t, so it’s essential to be able to rely on brands to offer fast and efficient customer care.

According to our findings, the majority of consumers are ‘broadly’ happy with how tech brands handle product/service issues or problems. And perhaps it’ll come as little surprise that Apple and Samsung came out as the tech brands that provide the best level of customer service with respondents.

However, problems start when consumers are unable to contact/connect or interact with a real human being. Overall, 66% of consumers are satisfied with how their consumer tech issues are handled by major tech brands, with 18% being dissatisfied.

Alex Duckett, director at Two Ears One Mouth, said: “Most of the UK is happy with how tech brands handle problems – though frustration arises for those rare moments when it’s difficult to access a ‘real person’. A quick and convenient online chat, with a ‘real person’ is the ideal ‘first step’ in resolving an issue. As opposed to spending precious minutes trying to explain things to an “unhelpful” chatbot.

“Apple & Samsung unsurprisingly lead on customer service perceptions, though it’s interesting that ‘brand’ is not the number one (conscious) driver when selecting tech products, with consumers claiming that functionality, durability & performance are more important.”

In terms of how consumers prefer to interact with customer service teams, a live online chat - with a human being – is the preferred method, followed by email. Telephone helplines, again with a real human being – come next in preference, with a face-to-face conversation in store ranks next. Other digital channels – online chatbots, social media and WhatsApp – rank lowest in terms of customer services.

The primary complaint about customer service lines is the amount of time that consumers have to wait to speak to an operator.

Who’s listening in?

We’ve all been in the situation where we have an offline conversation about a product or brand and five minutes later an ad for that very product or brand pops up on one of our social channels. Intrusion is a very real concern for consumers today and while hardware and software brands assure us they aren’t tracking our every online move many consumers still feel they are.

Almost two-thirds of consumers – 64% – do feel that the tracking carried out by consumer tech devices is intrusive, with 61% of those consumers saying they are ‘concerned’ or ‘somewhat concerned’ by tracking, privacy and surveillance from devices.

In terms of actually ‘listening’ to our conversations and then using that data to power commercial messages, almost half of consumers feel that is the case. 46% feel their devices are listening in to them, while an additional 26% are ‘not sure.’

Alex Ducket at Two Ears One Mouth said: “It’s a commonly held view that the tracking from technology is intrusive, with almost half the country thinking that their smartphone is listening to them. However, for most the ‘fix’ is to simply adjust the privacy settings or limit the use of certain features within their devices.”

Interestingly despite being concerned about intrusion, only 18% of consumers would consider stopping using their smart device, while a fifth of people would consider avoiding certain brands or products.

On the sustainability front, only 20% of consumers always re-cycle their old devices, with 41% stating that they ‘sometimes’ recycle.

Two Ears One Mouth conducted online interviews with 514 people across all ages, UK regions and genders. The survey took place between August 23 and August 27 and consisted of closed and open-ended questions.