Kraken tops crypto exchange anonymous customer support test: ACX

The top 25 centralized crypto exchanges were anonymously tested on their customer support. Most needed improvement in key areas, though Kraken, Phemex, Bitfinex, Bybit and MEXC Global made the top five, respectively.

Published by crypto customer support outsourcing specialist ACX International, the annual report argues that centralized crypto exchanges are likely to experience a turning point following the collapse of platforms like BlockFi, Celsius and FTX and will need to make significant changes to compete in an increasingly scrutinized and regulated space with high-quality customer support a priority.

Despite supporting over 100 countries, Coinbase was identified by ACX as the exchange requiring the most improvement as it only offered English language support via tickets.

How they were assessed

Compiled over four months from September 2022 to December 2022, ACX ranked performance over six key categories — support channel quality, KYC verification approval, language coverage, response times, product knowledge and customer focus.

Live chat support is becoming more widespread, with the percentage of exchanges offering it growing to 78% in 2022 from 56.7% in 2021. Both ticket and chat support was available at 61% of exchanges, but only 13% offered voice support — down from 16.7% in 2021.

The majority of exchanges (74%) verified KYC identification documents within 5 minutes, though one in 10 took over an hour. KuCoin, MEXC Global, Kraken, OKX and Bybit ran the quickest verifications.

Only 28% of exchanges offered multi-lingual support, with 49.4% relying on free translation tools like Google Translate. Just 15.2% of customer support was conducted by native speakers, making for a poor customer experience. Binance, LBank, Bybit, Phemex, Kraken, MEXC and DigiFinex performed best on ACX’s language tests.

In terms of response times, the top 25 exchanges averaged 4.3 minutes on live chat and 386 minutes via support tickets, with 56% taking more than two hours. OKX, DigiFinex and Binance were the fastest responders.

Most exchanges also had trouble answering complex questions, with ticket support outperforming live chat respondents in their understanding of cryptocurrency. BitForex, Kraken and Bitmex representatives had the broadest product knowledge.

Finally, when it comes to customer focus, 40% of live chat interactions were rated less than the average 3 out of 5 score, compared to 16% of support tickets, likely due to time pressure. Kraken, BitForex and Phemex showed the highest politeness and empathy in surveyed responses.

Trends to watch

ACX also identified several expected trends in crypto customer support to watch this year. They include an increased variety of language support, a dramatic improvement in response times, further adoption of live chat as the primary support channel, increased voice support, firmer KYC regulations and the rise of DeFi platforms pushing centralized exchanges to up their game.

“Whilst the crypto industry was able to get away in the early days with sub-par levels of customer support, we expect this to change in the coming months as crypto exchanges become increasingly focused on customer experience as a differentiator compared to their competitors,” ACX International Managing Director Toms Pauders said in a statement.

“Many exchanges traditionally saw customer support as a cost center. We expect to see this mindset gradually change as more exchanges see customer support as a differentiator that not only helps win new clients but also retain them,” Pauders added.

Disclaimer: The former CEO and majority shareholder of The Block has disclosed a series of loans from former FTX and Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried.