Consumers have a wide range of customer service channels available to them—they can hop on the phone to help resolve an issue, or take to Facebook to air out any problems. And while this works for some people, others aren't so sure. 

In fact, nearly a third of US internet users surveyed by NewVoiceMedia in February 2018 agreed that there's no "most effective channel" for getting a customer service problem resolved, likely pointing to the fact that many may have had a poor customer service experience—and consumers don't have time for that. 

Meanwhile, others felt differently. Roughly one in five said social media was the best channel to help resolve any customer service issues, while 11.0% chose email. 

Surprisingly, chatbots, which many marketers are using to help boost retail sales, were only seen as the most effective channel by 2.7% of respondents. Indeed, more respondents found a simple letter to be more efficient. 

Overall, there was no channel more effective than a phone call. And that falls in line with previous studies, like one from "The eMarketer Ecommerce Insights Report," conducted by Bizrate Insights, which found that more US internet users prefer to chat with a customer representative over the phone (31.9%) than any other channel.