Support from fellow humans is still considered the preference of consumers in Viet Nam in the context of digital transformation and automation, a study said.

The study “Redefining Human and Automated Engagement - How APAC Consumers Have Impacted The CX Agenda”, which was conducted by a global cloud communications platform, Infobip, reveals that “despite the fact that automated self-services have accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, human touchpoints still stay relevant to enhance customer experience (CX) scores.”

According to the study, some 43 per cent of Vietnamese customers prefer social media for customer support. In addition, they still habitually rely on live human support - phone and online live chat interactions which were the top two preferred touchpoints across all support scenarios.

While the CX score determines how successfully a company provides customer engagement, the study indicates that strategic placement of human-touch will differentiate and improve CX scores. When human interaction is used for general customer service and complaint cases, CX scores are higher. On the other hand, for less complex requests such as delivery tracking, self-service touchpoints sufficed in resolving customer enquiries quickly.

As such, a strong correlation exists between the value of human-agent interactions in addressing highly emotional or complex cases and the corresponding CX scores. The study informed that brands in Viet Nam have achieved a good CX score of 4.0, above the APAC average, which is at 3.9.

Pham Gia Dan, business development director at Infobip said: “Vietnamese businesses have been step by step thriving in customer service/support, bringing satisfaction to customers through a customer experience combining automation with human intervention.

"Viet Nam is recognised as a market with high CX scores in the region and is expected to grow more in the future.

“Besides that, businesses should leverage cloud ecosystems to compel instant, always-on collaboration and seamless omnichannel interactions for an elevated CX. We see big potential in the Viet Nam market to adopt these solutions and train their employees to enable connected customer experiences,” Dan added.

In the long run, high-qualified CX can contribute to customer loyalty across the three dimensions of advocacy, retention, and spending - all directly accelerating business growth.

The study shows that digital transformation needs to address the human-machine paradigm, where the strategic play of a hybrid CX is key to better serve customers and boost their loyalty.

Automation now plays a pivotal role for businesses that want to elevate and scale customer experience with the efficiency needed today. Customers have grown to expect real-time personalised services and interactions with the emergence of digital and automated engagement tools.

"Redefining Human and Automated Engagement - How APAC Consumers Have Impacted The CX Agenda” was fielded by a third-party company with 1,210 consumers across mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Viet Nam. — VNS