If you’re struggling to achieve customer success, you’re not alone. Most businesses have a hard time keeping their customers happy.
One mistake and you could lose your customers forever.
Your customer service is extremely important. So much so that 89% of customers have switched to a competitor after experiencing poor customer service.
But, you know now. What you are looking for is how to improve your customer service.
Don’t worry, achieving good customer service is much easier thanks to technology. The use of technology in your business will completely revolutionize your customer service strategy.
What is customer service technology?
Customer Service Technology is software that helps your business give customers the best possible personalized service. There are many tools that can help your customer service team achieve customer service success. It’s up to you to learn these tools and choose which ones to implement so you can have the amazing customer service you’ve been looking for.
How can we use technology to improve our customer service?
Today’s technology has opened the doors to endless possibilities. From improving efficiency and data usage to giving us insane precision.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have been the engine behind many customer service technologies.
Here are 15 customer service systems businesses should know about to improve their customer service:
- Face-to-face video is the future of customer service
- Chatbots, Robots and AI Customer Service
- Real Time Customer Support: Talk to a Human (Assisted by a Robot)
- Block Chainuse cases in e-commerce
- Self-service technology: IT and Customer Service
- Improve your customer service through social media
- Augmented Reality: AI use cases in customer service
- Users are switching to the Cloud
- Voice search is the new text message
- OmniChannelMarketing helps you put customers first
- IoT is changing online shopping and e-commerce
- Ticket systems and Help Desks
- Data, Data, Data
The 13 Customer Service Trends in 2022:
1. Face-to-face video is the future of customer service
We are used to communicating with customer service representatives by phone. We are usually served by people from all over the world and we don’t know anything about them. For most, it’s a frustrating experience as you’ve probably been on hold for up to an hour listening to mind-numbing music. And by the time you finally have an agent, you’re already irritated.
Nowadays, many companies are trying to solve this problem through video conferences instead of phone calls.
With video you can make a personal connection with the customer. When building relationships, eye contact and a smile are very important. Video calls allow businesses to truly connect with their customers, unlike voice calls.
Here are some ways to incorporate more face-to-face video into your business:
- video meetings
- Webinars and Q&A sessions
- Video emails and Instagram and Facebook videos
2. Chatbots, Robots and AI customer service
Conversation Robos , as we prefer to call them at TbkNews , are a necessity for companies to keep up with the competition.
Artificial intelligence helps these robots provide pre-programmed answers to many common questions with a single click. Because these bots are affordable and quick to set up, they are a great option to add to your customer service team. Just think of it as your trusty virtual assistant.
Of course we know that bots cannot replace the connection with a real human but they are very useful for asking common questions and completing simple tasks. They can even be programmed to connect the customer with a customer service representative when needed to speed up the process.
Bots can save your team money and time by answering repetitive questions. Best of all, they can be there when you’re not. That way you can connect with your customers 24/7.
3. Real-time customer support: Talk to a human
In today’s fast paced world email has become too slow for people. We now use communication apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack to get answers in real time. In the world of customer service, no one wants to wait days or even weeks for a response. This is why so many companies have incorporated chat bots into their customer service.
However, sometimes chatbots can’t answer all your questions and other times people just want to talk to a real human. That is why companies need to emphasize the importance of real-time communication. To keep customers engaged and satisfied, they should have the option to speak with a customer service representative whenever they want.
They can incorporate the service in real time by offering the following channels:
- live chat
- call centers
- IoT
4. Blockchain use cases in e-commerce
Blockchain was introduced in 2008 as a digital ledger of economic transactions or cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Since then we have seen a drop in “crypto craze” due to Bitcoin being so volatile that its future is difficult to predict. Especially since in 2018 crypto-currencies are down 80% in value . Although we have seen a decline in crypto-currency it is not the end of the blockchain.
Blockchain offers many advantages for eCommerce customers that we don’t get from our traditional currencies:
- Lower transaction fees
- Accessible to people around the world
- Transactions are transparent and easy to track
In the next decade we will see the possibility of the blockchain increasing in scale. According to Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase – a major cryptocurrency exchange company – by the end of 2020 the blockchain will reach more than 1 billion users, up from the current 50 million users.
That’s quite a prediction!
Blockchain can offer your customers better service and more transparency, so don’t be discouraged by the current decline. Given its potential, you should definitely keep your eyes on Blockchain trends in 2020.
5. Self-service technology: IT and Customer Service
Today self-service is often the common route for many customers at gas stations, grocery stores, movie theaters, etc. As humans we have migrated to be more independent. It is common for clients to try to solve problems on their own before asking for help. Harvard Business Review data showed that 81% of customers prefer to use the self-service option over traditional service.
It is important for companies to implement self-service technology because it can improve customer satisfaction. Self-service technology gives the customer control, ease, efficiency and a pleasant experience. Although there may be flaws in self-service systems, customers are more likely to be satisfied if they are given the option to do things for themselves.
6. Improve customer service through social media
Social media is no longer just for socializing. It seems that online companies are prospering more than companies with a physical location. If you look at how many people are shopping online today instead of going to a store, don’t think that social media is a vital tool for connecting with your customers.
Like everything, there are pros and cons to the impact of social media on the customer experience:
CONS:
- Our data is being collected by massive corporations like Google and Facebook and may be used in ways we don’t even know about.
- We often feel that companies harass us with incessant advertisements
PROS:
- As a customer, social media connects me with companies that have values and interests similar to mine.
- Clients can keep up to date with companies and organizations, helping companies build a relationship with their clients.
7. Augmented Reality: AI use cases in customer service
Augmented Reality (AR) is the interactive experience in which the user feels as if they are in a real world environment. AR technology can be extremely valuable in improving the customer experience because it improves the way businesses can interact with their customers.
Let’s look at the example of IKEA. IKEA uses AR so customers can see what furniture would look like in their home before making a purchase.
This is just one example of how AR can enhance your business’ customer service. Depending on your business you could implement other AR strategies during Pre-sale, point of purchase or the post-sale periods.
Check out the article below for more examples of how you can use AR to improve your customer relations.
- 9 Ways Augmented Reality Transforms Customer Experience | TechSee
8. Users are switching to the Cloud
As a business, if you haven’t moved to the cloud yet, you may need to think about something. The 2018 IDG Cold Computing survey announced that 73% of organizations have at least part of their computing infrastructure in the cloud.
The main benefits of having customer service tools in the cloud are:
- Access to data anytime, anywhere
- Understand the behavior of your customers from the data in the cloud Unifying your team.
- Everyone can see and work on things at the same time.
9. Voice search is the new text message
oday we see more people using speech to search for things on their devices instead of manually typing. Experts predict that by 2020 50% of searches could be voice activated .
I don’t think we’ve gotten to that point yet… but hey, it’s only February.
As customers are using voice search more, it is changing search behavior because the way we speak is more natural and conversational than the way we write.
This means that companies cannot focus their marketing plan on text-based search alone. If you haven’t already, you should think about how your SEO strategies will need to change to incorporate more voice-based search. Too bad Google hasn’t provided us with voice search analytics yet…
10. Omnichannel Marketing Helps You Put Customers First
For businesses, Omnichannel is a top marketing trend on everyone’s radar.
Omnichannel marketing allows you to maintain a unified brand across all your channels where multichannel marketing uses multiple channels to connect with your customers without a consistent strategy. However, Omnichannel marketing puts the customer first and delivers a seamless experience through channels you can trust.
11. IoT is changing online shopping and e-commerce
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term used to describe all devices related to the Internet. It is estimated that by 2020 there will be 21 billion IoT connected devices worldwide .
Subscribe to our list
Don't worry, we don't spam
The impact of IoT on online shopping and e-commerce is what businesses should pay attention to. The IoT is connecting what used to be inanimate objects to the Internet, offering endless possibilities to customers.
Imagine you go to a bowl of cereal and realize there is no more milk.
The worst, right?
If your fridge was connected to the internet, you could make your fridge ask you for some. Weird… but a little unbelievable!
12. Ticket systems and Help Desks
Ticket systems are designed to organize and distribute incoming requests for customer service. Once distributed, this “ticket” is used to track the progress of the client’s issuance.
Helpdesk efficiency to provide the best support to your customers is vital to the customer experience. Ticketing systems prioritize issues and delegate tasks across the team to make the team more productive.
Ticket systems also function as a record of common problems your customers have.
13. Date, Date, Date
You don’t have to apply all of these service technology systems, but all of the ones you choose SHOULD track your success. Data is the only way to know which strategies are working for your business and which are not.
In recent years, people have become more aware of how their data is used, so making sure you use data ethically and with customer experience in mind is key.
The data is unknown, but it is getting smarter and is the key to knowing how to accurately measure your relationship with your customers.
