On a scale of 1 to 10, one being “please, anything but that” and 10 being “this is the best thing that might have ever happened to me,” how much do you like picking up the phone and calling customer service? We’d venture to say the majority of the answers would hover around the lower end of the scale (with some wishing that negative numbers were also an option).

Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a stigma around being a customer service rep. Yet, a recent customer service survey conducted by callcentres.net and Forrester Consulting found that most folks pick up the phone more than any other channel when they need help. Even more compelling, 79 percent of those surveyed listed voice conversations among their preferred support channel (only 33 percent said email).

Clearly there’s something about talking to a good ol’ fashioned human being that’s hard to beat. It’s why Zendesk recently launched its Voice feature, which gives both customers and support agents a reason to pick up the phone instead of hanging it up.

It’s phone support for the 21st century. Let’s take a look at how we got here!