U.S. Men Are More Willing Than Women to Pay For Good Customer Service

SAN FRANCISCO, April 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mars and Venus are still in opposition in the realm of customer experience. A recent survey by Genesys®, the global leader in cloud customer experience and contact center solutions, finds that men and women have different expectations when it comes to good customer support and communication methods. For instance, nearly 20% more men than women are open to paying extra to get the type of service they want.

The Genesys survey revealed different points of view across genders. Within the U.S., the survey pool of 800 adults was split evenly between men and women, with only two people self-identifying as "other." The pool also covered six age ranges in four geographic regions (Northeast, South, Midwest, West).

Below are some of the more noticeable gender distinctions mined from the U.S. survey data.

    1. Men place more emphasis on good customer service and are willing to pay
       extra to get it. More men (35%) than women (25%) say they base their
       decision to buy from a business solely on its reputation for customer
       service. Significantly, they are also more willing to pay extra for
       better customer service -- 55% versus only 36% of women. Fully twice as
       many men (18%) as women (9%) are willing to pay a surcharge up to 10% for
       better support.


    2. Men and women disagree on the most important thing in customer support
       interactions. There's no gender difference in what people most value when
       communicating with customer support centers -- timeliness of response and
       a knowledgeable staff. But the data reveals that men place a nearly equal
       emphasis on timeliness (50%) and knowledgeable staff (49%) compared to
       women, who value knowledgeable staff (56%) more than timeliness (43%).


    3. Women have more pet peeves when requesting customer support through
       contact centers. There are two definite irritations that resonated with
       more than 40% of the men surveyed: too many automated options (44%), and
       being put on hold for more than 5 minutes (40%). Women share the same two
       pet peeves, but have two additional ones: language/accent
       misunderstandings (43%), too many automated options (42%), having to
       repeat information to multiple customer service representatives (41%),
       and being on hold for more than 5 minutes (40%).


    4. Men are more likely to lose their temper and complain to a competitor.
       While only 11% of women say they "frequently" become so frustrated by
       customer support that they swear or cry, 20% of men in the survey admit
       to it. Men are also more likely to complain to a competitor (15%) after
       experiencing poor customer service, compared to only 5% of women.
    5. Men and women vary in their communication preferences. Connecting with
       customer support by phone is still considered the most effective method
       for getting answers by 63% of the overall U.S. survey pool. However, 20%
       of men find searching the company website offers the most success, versus
       13% of women. There are a number of other distinctions described below.
    --  Live agent support. When contacting customer support by phone, 62% of
        women compared to 54% of men say talking to a live agent is the most
        efficient approach.


    --  Social media support. Of the seven communication options for customer
        support presented in the survey, the most disliked is social media, at
        21%. A full 25% of the women who dislike it say it's because it's too
        easy to be misunderstood, compared to 15% of men.


    --  Web chat support. Fifteen percent of the people surveyed dislike using
        web chat to communicate with a business for customer support. What's
        interesting is that nearly twice as many men (30%) as women (16%) say
        the reason is that it's too easy to be misunderstood. However, the women
        who dislike web chat are significantly more likely to say that it's too
        slow (28%) compared to men (18%).


    --  Video chat support. Fourteen percent of the total survey pool dislike
        using video chat for resolving customer support issues, but the gender
        distinction is noticeable. A full three-quarters of women (75%) say it
        makes them uncomfortable, compared to 59% of men.
    --  Messaging-based support. Texting and messaging apps are becoming more
        acceptable as a communication method for customer support, although 13%
        in the Genesys survey still dislike it. One of the reasons the men
        dislike it is that they perceive it as too slow (21%), although only 5%
        of women feel that way.

"While our survey results shine a light on the differing mindsets men and women have about customer care, they're also indicative of a larger trend: an expectation for have-it-your-way service," said Janelle Dieken, senior vice president of product marketing at Genesys. "Fortunately, with sophisticated customer experience technology that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive capabilities, organizations can provide the increasingly personalized experiences today's discerning consumers expect."

Download the slide deck for additional insights from the 2019 Genesys customer experience survey in the U.S. and read the earlier press announcements. Genesys commissioned surveys in 13 countries: Australia, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the U.K. and the U.S. The survey was conducted in July 2019.

Press and analysts in North America may request a full copy of the survey findings from the Genesys media relations team at genesys@sterlingpr.com.

About Genesys
Every year, Genesys® delivers more than 70 billion remarkable customer experiences for organizations in over 100 countries. Through the power of the cloud and AI, our technology connects every customer moment across marketing, sales and service on any channel, while also improving employee experiences. Genesys pioneered Experience as a Service(SM) so organizations of any size can provide true personalization at scale, interact with empathy, and foster customer trust and loyalty. This is enabled by Genesys Cloud(TM), an all-in-one solution and the?world's leading public cloud contact center platform,?designed for rapid innovation, scalability and flexibility. Visit www.genesys.com.

©2020 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. Genesys, Genesys Cloud, Experience as a Service, and the Genesys logo are trademarks, servicemarks and/or registered trademarks of Genesys. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.

Contacts
Shaunna Morgan
Senior Public Relations Manager
Genesys
shaunna.morgan@genesys.com
+1 317-493-4241

Adriana Saldaña
Sterling Communications
genesys@sterlingpr.com
+1 408-395-5500

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SOURCE Genesys