Take Note of These 5 Customer Service Trends on the Horizon

  • By Vanita Arora
  • 16-11-2021
  • Trends
customer service trends

Customer experience is the only way to differentiate your brand from the clutter of competition. In fact, today’s challenge is not just to stand out from the crowd but to learn, adapt and continue innovating new strategies.

A recent survey by Forbes shows that post-COVID-19, 59% of consumers care more about the customer experience companies provide than they did before the pandemic.

We need to understand that we are now serving a customer base that has been financially and psychologically impacted by COVID-19. The post-pandemic consumer desires touchless and digital service options. So, business solutions and services must serve accordingly. Any friction in a customer’s journey can result in loss of potential customers, sales, and revenue.

So, as we head into 2022, let’s explore the top five trends in customer service that are just over the horizon.

Trend 1: Omnichannel is the new black
Omnichannel marketing has been rising for quite some time, allowing customers to reach out via different mediums. However, it must be optimised for smooth customer experiences.

You can deploy an omnichannel cloud contact centre to streamline your customer service and create a better customer journey. It allows you to handle customer interactions across multiple channels—phone calls, SMS, social media, live chat, mobile apps, and self-service channels like FAQs or knowledge bases, etc.

With omnichannel communications, you can deliver a unified customer experience and prioritise customer queries based on importance instead of a channel-by-channel basis.

Trend 2: Digital transformation for a better customer experience
Every customer expects and demands a digital experience that is tailored according to their needs and wants.

In order to keep up with the evolving expectations of the contemporary customer, your business needs to embrace modern technology tools. In simpler terms, it’s about changing the way you engage with your customers and offer solutions to their problems.

In this post-pandemic era, you need to offer them a consistent experience whenever and wherever they need it. Fortunately, companies recognise this need with 86% of businesses recognising that cloud technology is critical to digital transformation.

The cloud enables you to be dynamic and flexible, allowing you to meet customer demands quicker. It helps you capture valuable customer insights that, in turn, result in a stellar customer experience.

Trend 3: Personalisation is paramount
Customers want you to treat them as individuals, know their personal preferences and recommend products based on their purchase history. Put simply, they want to feel special and valued. For this, you need to integrate your CRM with cloud solutions.

The cloud helps you treat your customers as unique individuals. You can gather customer data, analyse and study it for your customer’s hyper-personalised journey. You can also use this data to create targeted campaigns, emails and cater to individual preferences for a more unique experience.

Moreover, having all the information about the customer allows your agent to resolve their queries quickly and without needing to call them back.

Trend 4: Automation is the need of the hour
Considering how far technology has come over time, automation is undeniably the need of the hour for customer support operations.

Improved productivity with less time and money spent is a major benefit of automation.

Businesses can employ several automation tools. 1800 numbers, also known as toll free numbers (TFNs), allow businesses to automate the inbound call handling process by accurately routing callers to the right destination. With the help of TFNs, you can also offer a holistic personalised customer experience.

Similarly, automated SMS can help you stay connected with your customers at all times. They are short, crisp, and the best way to follow up on a successful sales call. The added bonus—you can schedule and broadcast personalised texts to multiple people at the same time.

Trend 5: The hype around self-service help is growing
Did you know 67% of customers prefer self-service options over speaking to a company representative?

In layman’s terms, self-service refers to offering customers and employees tools that enable them to find answers to their questions themselves. And today’s customers are willing to find solutions on their own. They want quick responses without wasting any time.

Combining user-friendly automation tools with cloud telephony solutions like IVR lets you offer 24/7 self-service support without burning a hole in your pocket. With IVR, your customers can get help on their own via any digital device, while your employees can spend time solving more complex issues.

Wrapping up
With the majority of the businesses competing primarily on customer experiences, you can follow these trends and stand out from the noise. After all, the ultimate key to winning loyal customers is to know your customers better than ever before.

Create effective buyer personas that help you better understand your customers’ behaviour at every touchpoint across multiple channels, and you’re good to go!

Share It

Author

Vanita Arora

Vanita Arora is a marketing enthusiast and technical writer associated with Servetel, a leading IVR service provider. Being greatly in love with music & travelling, she has always been fascinated with technology. She believes words have the power to change the world and is working on turning her ideas into words every day.

Recent Blogs