08.29.2023 Jonathan Kirkland
Businesses have experienced some significant changes in how they operate and communicate with their customers over the past couple of years. The pandemic has been the driver of reduced operating hours, a surge in online sales and workforce interruptions.
And despite these challenges, customer expectations still continue to increase. Customers now demand a more frictionless, seamless and enjoyable experience than ever before, and companies need to match that with their customer service strategy.As we move into 2022, there are new challenges that organizations must address. A significant shortage in workers, supply chain issues and price inflation are all issues that businesses must successfully navigate if they are to thrive in 2022.
To help businesses do just that, and continue to offer a world-class customer service offering, ACI has created a free eBook that looks at the top customer service trends impacting businesses in 2022.
The eBook looks at the top opportunities, strategies and technologies being used by industry leading companies to improve customer service results and increase profitability.
Want to learn more? You can download the eBook for free by clicking the image below, or for a quick summary of the points we cover in the guide please feel free to continue reading this blog.
#1 - Customer service now now experiential, not transactional
Today’s customers no longer perceive value based on the price and quality of a product or service. Instead, it’s about the entire experience they have with that brand. Customer service is no longer transactional, it’s experiential, and businesses must build a customer journey that reduces pain points for their customers, improves customer relationships, and improves customer loyalty.
#2 - Analytics and customer data is key to world-class customer service
Delighting customers in 2022 is all about being proactive and exceeding their expectations. To do that, you need to know what your customer expectations are. That’s why over the next year we expect to see customer service analytics and customer data begin to play an increasingly important role in successful customer service strategies.
#3 - The customer experience continues to be the main differentiator between brands
Just like the past few years, the customer experience is still the driving differentiator between brands. To ensure companies are delivering a superior customer experience, customer service teams will focus on things like:
- Finding the right balance between speed and quality
- Identifying and optimizing important customer touch points
- Enhancing agent performance
- Using customer service insights to make proactive changes
- Building a template for how customers should feel when interacting with their brand
#4 - Balancing humans and automation is to become key for customer service teams
In 2022 there’s a significant shortage in workers across a number of industries, and customer service is no different. That’s why we will see an increasing number of customer service teams use contact center artificial intelligence (AI) to augment their human workforce. It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean replacing workers, it’s simply about enhancing the work that they do. Businesses will start to find the perfect balance between automation and live customer service agents.
#5 - A focus on providing a frictionless experiences across all customer touch points
Successful customer service is today heavily reliant on an omnichannel approach. The best customer service offering will offer a frictionless experience across all customer touch points. That means over the next year the top performing brands will identify their customer touch points, and focus on ensuring that each one is perfectly designed to meet their customer expectations.
#6 - Successful brands will turn to customer service outsourcing
Keeping up with new customer service challenges is almost an impossible task for most organizations. It requires customer service expertise, large amounts of resources, in-depth knowledge of the latest contact center technologies and a highly strategic hiring program.
It’s for this reason we expect to see a shift in 2022, with more companies outsourcing their customer service programs to contact centers that can seamlessly implement a customer service program into their business.
Interested in learning more about the top trends driving customer service results in 2022? Get in touch with Advantage Communications today. Our team of customer service specialists would love to answer any questions that you may have.
