Why the older generation loves to chat online with service agents

One in five online shoppers aged up to 30 frequently uses e-mail customer services
Users over 40 chat more often than other age brackets with customer service agents

The older the user, the less often e-mail services are used.

Younger and older online shoppers use customer services in different ways
When buying at virtual shops, younger and older customers behave very differently. Whereas the over 40-year-olds top the average when it comes to chatting with customer service agents, the under 30s tend more towards e-mail communication. These are the results of the trend survey "Vernetzte Kunden - Wie Web 2.0 das Online-Shopping verändert" (Online consumers - how Web 2.0 is changing online shopping) conducted by novomind AG in collaboration with wiwo.de and handelsblatt.com.
 
Older surfers do not use e-mail services very often
More than 21 per cent of online shoppers under 30 frequently contact the e-mail customer service of online shops. In the 50-plus generation, only five per cent often take advantage of the opportunity to obtain professional advice via e-mail. Of all respondents, however, only seven per cent are complete e-mail sourpusses: even in the 50s bracket, only 7.5 per cent would like to do entirely without e-mail contact with online service agents.
 
Chatting with customer service agents is particularly popular with the over 40s
When older surfers have questions, they are more likely to choose the direct route to the customer service agent. Indeed, around one in ten over 40s state that they occasionally chat with online agents. Another 30 per cent of people in that age bracket say that they get in touch with real people at the service centre now and again—which is still twice as many as in the under 30s age group. The reason: if there’s no opportunity for a personal conversation on the Web, then at least they want to have real-time assistance.
 
Men are more communicative on the Net, but women want to catch up
Men take advantage of the opportunity of real-time advice far more often than women. Over 40 per cent of respondent women stated that they had never chatted online with a customer service agent. This is true of less than 30 per cent of men. However, women look about to catch up, with nearly half of respondent female users saying that although they had not yet made use of live-chat functions, they could certainly imagine doing so. This means that companies have the chance of making the most of great customer potential by using modern E-CRM systems. The multichannel capability of the Self Service Suite™ 5.0 from novomind makes it possible, for example, to meet the demands of different customer groups equally well, be they young, old, male or female. The software package replaces the patchwork of different communications solutions often in operation at retailers with a standard system of communication management based on a central knowledge database. This means that customers receive their ideal service, whatever their communication preferences.
 
Background information
The report on the trend survey "Vernetzte Kunden - Wie Web 2.0 das Online-Shopping verändert" presents the findings of an online survey conducted for novomind AG in collaboration with wiwo.de and handelsblatt.com. The survey investigated where the latest trends lie with Web 2.0 applications and how customers use them. The survey was conducted during the period from 30 January to 28 February 2007. Altogether 374 end consumers took part.
 
novomind AG: innovative software for professional customer communications
novomind is a software developer in Hamburg and the fastest-growing company in the field of electronic customer communications and mail management. As the leading provider of innovative solutions for digital customer communications, novomind AG provides software for service-oriented and personalised customer dealings. The software not only optimises efficiency in customer administration significantly, it also gives the user a faster return on investment. The portfolio of the Products division includes the novomind Self-Service Suite™. The software package contains all the communication modules necessary for a customer service centre on a central knowledge basis: e-mail management, virtual customer consulting and systems for interactive, real-time communication. The novomind AG Services division implements complex e-business applications. More than 40 major companies have already decided in favour of novomind technology, among them Citibank, Otto, Yello Strom and the German pension institution Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund. Club Bertelsmann, EnBW and Mexx as well as public-sector users, such as the German Bundestag (parliament) and the German Department of Trade and Industry, have already successfully introduced novomind systems to optimise their customer communications, turnover and PR.

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