I am preoccupied by delayed feedback, because as I stated before in a previous article, it affects a great deal of modern day communication both on a personal and business level. My point of view is that this type of communication is becoming more and more important as it is part of the customer experience programs all around the world. Although it became predominant in the modern electronic communication era, delayed feedback communication is probably dated way before electronic communication, since people were writing messages on the walls of the caves expecting some kind of reactions from tribe members. Therefore humans developed mechanisms related to the time dimension of the interpersonal communication.
We will discuss the different types and channels of communication with a customer perspective further on in the article.
What is delayed feedback?
Simply put, delayed feedback communication is any type of human communication that does not allow you the imediate feedback of the recipient. As the feedback is the purpose of most of communication acts, we do something and we expect somebody’s reaction in exchange. delayed feedback affects the very basic effect of communication, especially when it is personal (is directed to a specific person).
As there is a time communication dimension to human communication, our brains automatically create expectations regarding the feedback time in accordance with the type of communication and communication channels involved.
What are the effects of delayed feedback?
Communication creates expectations in the emitter mind, both transactional and emotional. We basically cannot separate the two of them. There is also an expectation regarding the time interval we expect the answer to occur as I stated before. The combination of these elements creates what is perceived as a normal or abnormal communication by the receiver mind.
The perceived positive feedback from the time perspective point of view builds trust, showing of interest, importance, improved communication engagement and can consolidate the relationship.
The opposite deals with rejection, anxiety, fear, lack of trust, loss of control, shift in focus, interpretation and miscommunication when is passed through a negative filter. The funny thing is that the negative interpretation arises not because of the content of the communication, but by the time delay people associated with it.
We should take into account that many communication channels have a delay expectation. What we really need to consider is if the time dimension is longer or shorter than the expected (perception of normal toward the specific channel).
Every customer experience should take into account and improve the time perspective of delayed communication channels.
Some examples
I will further analyse some of the most used delayed embedded communication channels used nowadays. I will address basically electronic communication channels as they become a daily part of our lives both in personal and business communication. Of course the ideas apply to other channels too.
E-mail messaging
E-mailing has a large time elasticity. The expected feedback time is from few minutes to few days. An instant response is considered to be automatic and a response that takes more than two days creates anxiety in receiver’s mind. For a customer purpose, I would recommend an instant feedback message “We’ve got your request ” type followed by a human answer in a convenient time frame (let’s say 24 hours).
Whatsapp messenger
In Romania we use Whatsapp a lot. A lot of businesses use Whatsapp, too. Like other instant messaging apps, the application allows you to see if your recipient has received and/or read your message.
It actually gives your customer three time delayed feedbacks.
- Your message got to the Whatsapp servers,
- the server successfully delivered your message to the recipient and
- the recipient read your message.
All three are part of our brain expected pathways receiving time delayed communication feedback.
Most of the people expect an imediate reaction right after the status turns blue. If you are not able to provide an answer you can at least say it, or create a time expectation for a proper answer. A phrase like “unfortunately we cannot answer for the moment on your request, but we expect to get back to you in x days (hours)” will reduce customer anxiety. A no answer is usually perceived as low quality customer service.
Seeing the messages and not answering create a lot of emotional stress on the other side. Although it can be used to stress a negotiation partner, we do not recommend delaying answering.
Social Media Messaging
People that are active on social media, usually perceive social media messages as instant and expect a short reaction time. If you use any kind of social media messaging channels our recommendations are to activate your notifications and to have someone available to answer in a matter of minutes to customer requests.
Feedback mechanism is similar to Whatsapp or any messaging app.
Text
People expect you to text back. Sometimes even a short OK, or a reaction to a text, helps. The perception to texting is more personal.
Chat and Chat Bots
Chats and chat bots are there to be instant. Any delay in answering a chat channel is considered poor customer service. When you are using humans for chatting it is nice to let the customer know you are a human and if you are caught in another conversation you will get back in … x minutes. Since you start chatting the expectation is to be focused on the client and be ready to call if the customer requires so.
When using AI for chatting, the expectation is to make customers aware of the fact that they are chatting with a bot and some limitations can occur.
article by Emanoil Draganescu