As organizations try to keep up with rising customer expectations in the wake of social media, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things, customer service is changing faster than ever. And yet, it remains critical to business success. So what are the 2020 customer service trends that can help companies deliver high quality service throughout a customer’s journey?
What does service look like in 2020?
Let’s take a look at five 2020 customer service trends trends fueling its continued transformation.
2020 customer service trends: 5 ways service is transforming
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The convenience revolution
These days, convenience itself is a competitive edge: if you can deliver products and services quickly, with minimal effort from the customer, you will see them returning again and again. And while the convenience revolution isn’t a new concept, there is still a lot of room for improvement. In fact, research shows that reducing customer effort is the #1 priority for contact centers in 2020.
This drive to deliver customer convenience is changing customer service strategies, processes, and technology. Companies are experimenting to find the right balance between self-service and human interactions to deliver the most convenient service experiences.
And convenience is not just about being available on multiple channels. It’s about getting to the root of any issue quickly so you can address it effectively. Which is why you’ll start seeing more companies using customer experience management to better understand their customers’ experiences (both good and bad), and using insights to take corrective actions (or, ideally, anticipate issues before they occur).
Done right, it can be an important driver for business growth.
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Intelligent technologies
Intelligent technologies like AI, machine learning, IoT, and robotic process automation (RPA) have been a hot topic in customer service for several years, with companies testing their ability to reduce manual work, improve resolution time, and lower costs.
Now, the experimental era is over. We have learned where these technologies work and where they don’t, and are putting best practices from pilot projects into broader use.
This means we’ll start seeing even bigger, more measurable benefits from smart tech, making its business case even stronger. And it may even change how companies approach and organize customer service. For example: now that there are more IoT-enabled machines indicating product malfunctions at an early stage, customer service organizations are finding new methods for reacting to the notifications proactively, getting someone on-site to fix the machine quickly – maybe even before it fully breaks.
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Increased attention on the “human channel”
Customers love self-service because they can take care of minor issues on their own time. Companies love self-service because it saves money. But in many cases, customers still want or need to talk to or chat with a live agent. For complicated issues, engaging live with a service agent is by far the fastest and easiest way to get things resolved, so much so that 60% of customers prefer it.
As surprising as it may sound, the rise of self-service has only heightened the importance of personal interactions. Contact center conversations offer the rare opportunity for companies to interact directly with the customer, and 78% of consumers say that a single contact center interaction has permanently changed how they felt about a brand. Companies need to make the most of these interactions.
Knowing this, we’ll start to see service organizations put greater emphasis on contact center agent hiring, training, coaching and support. We may also see a change in the KPIs (because if you want to ensure the best possible customer experience, is average handling time still the most valuable metric?).
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Streamlining processes to overcome the skills shortage
The talent gap is a reality in many service organizations. Changing skill requirements, pressure to cut costs, geographical restrictions and more mean employers cannot hire enough people with the right skills to meet the customer demand. And these challenges aren’t going away anytime soon.
Companies are already looking for new employment models to fill the talent gap, but they are also considering ways to maximize employees’ time and energy. In fact, eliminating agent effort is one of the most important drivers for contact center investments this year.
Keep an eye out for new initiatives in process automation and expanded use of mobile tools, eliminating a lot of routine tasks and paperwork. There is a lot of untapped potential in knowledge management, as well as learning management solutions.
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Customer trust is earned, not given
Customers are increasingly conscious of their data and want to know how it’s collected and used. Trust is becoming a key competitive advantage and must be earned. According to Forrester, more and more people are taking active measures to protect their privacy; and we’re starting to see new data protection laws take effect after GDPR paved the wave in 2018. This has many ramifications for customer service.
Companies need clear policies on what data they gather and how, and they must get consent from the customer. We will start seeing more consolidated customer data platforms that allow companies to store customer data in one place and make sure it is used appropriately, whether for marketing, sales, or customer service.
For customer service leaders, this will be a great opportunity. With data protection laws restricting marketing in many ways, customer service interactions become even more critical to building customer trust, improving loyalty, and driving business growth.
