Young people are afraid of speaking on the phone: what impact will this have on Customer Service?

A Times of London survey found that one young person in four never answers the phone. Around 70% of people aged 18–34 dislike telephone conversations and even feel anxious about speaking this way. The main difficulty appears to involve the conventions of dialogue and two-way interaction. This discomfort clearly has, and will increasingly have, significant effects on social and personal relationships. Looking more broadly, the findings also affect our customer care and customer service work.

From the first freephone numbers in the late 1980s to the present day, virtually every company has acquired one. Today, however, companies must face a new reality if they want to maintain personal relationships with younger people — their future customers — who do not like talking on the phone.

The entire customer support system clearly needs to be rethought, deploying artificial intelligence technologies and redesigning the whole workflow.

Our experience also supports the findings published by The Times. Data from customer support for a young audience (*) shows that AI-powered chatbots have become users' preferred channel, well ahead of the telephone and even the website contact form. Is the preference for virtual rather than human operators driven by fear of using the phone? Certainly, but other factors also make automated contact handling popular: longer availability, curiosity about the technology and immediate use without having to register personal details first.

(*) Source: PSP Jeko Report – Consumer Service CRM database

In 40 years of customer service management, we have seen many changes in user behaviour. We believe real progress now means meeting the needs of the entire audience in different ways, allowing each customer, consumer or service user to receive support in the way that suits them. Companies must cover all common ways of interacting rather than offer only one contact channel.

Every support channel must be managed with the same authority, quality and performance, making each a genuine alternative to the others. Only then can companies avoid excluding any user and provide truly efficient customer service.