5 Emerging Customer Service Trends For 2022

Why customer service is important for your business?

89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience. (Salesforce Research). On the other side, 78% of customers have backed out of a purchase due to a poor customer experience (Glance).

Remember the last time you had a bad experience at a restaurant or a hair salon and rushed to put that on Google. You are not alone. As a business, you just cannot afford that. This is perhaps more pertinent to eCommerce than any other business because all a disgruntled customer needs to do is post reviews on various social channels to damage your hard earned online reputation.

Like it or not – great customer service is going to win you more business, more customers and most importantly great “reviews” whereas a poor or callous service experience is going to cost you in more ways than one. 

Read on to see what’s going to be trending in the customer service world in 2022 and ensure that you are not left behind.

What’s trending in the customer service universe in 2022?

Here are five trends that we see impacting customer service in the coming year:

  • Use of Social Media as a Customer Service Channel
  • Instant Service
  • Data-driven Decisions
  • Personalization
  • Multiple Support Channels

Use of social media as a customer service channel – Today’s ecommerce is heavily dependent on social media for discovery, brand reputation and engagement, advertising and conversion. However, when it comes to customer service, only 14% of consumers think that brands are good at it. Time to change that in 2022! Just like you are proactive in engaging with your customers on social media, try to answer all their queries and provide them superlative service on social media or at least point them to the right place. The last thing customers want is their query to be “ignored”.

Expedited customer service – Do you think just answering a customer’s query is enough? Let’s face it – as a business that is your responsibility. But what matters now is speed!  It’s just the day and age we live in. The new generation wants everything quick!  It’s not enough to provide service. You need to think of automation strategies to process most of the customer service requests without much delay. Queries involving status of an order, shipment or a return can be automated pretty easily. Generic answers such as return policies, store hours, stock queries can be handled through an intelligent chat bot or a simple FAQ. Think speed – think automation!

Data Driven Customer Service Decisions – Though customers usually tend to spend more on sales and marketing, customer service deserves a close look. By analyzing the types of queries or repeat queries, the response times, the trends, the kind of products customers are looking for, the most common issues faced by the business, merchants can improve various facets of their business. They can save money, increase conversions and promote customer stickiness. It’s important to invest in a customer service solution that gives you data.

Personalized Service – Let’s be honest – don’t you love it when you step into a restaurant and the Manager walks over to greet you and addresses you by name and shows you to your favorite table. Ritz-Carlton is “famous” for this type of customer service and they cracked this code years before the other businesses realized it’s true worth. Today – adding personalization to your service can improve retention and brand loyalty and possibly increase sales in the long run. Repeat customers are your best investment when it comes to ecommerce. Think about tools and software that can help you use AI/ML to improve personalization in your customer service.

Multiple Support Channels – With social media taking center stage and the proliferation of smartphones across the world, you can expect your customer to seek support through various channels – think Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Email or Phone. You need to cater to different audiences across various demographic profiles. While you could zero in on the most often used ones, you just cannot limit it to one. You have various touch points with your customers or prospects across channels and you cannot ignore them on any of those channels. If you can invest in a solid support system that works across channels, you might want to do it sooner than later.

What next?

32% of consumers are willing to abandon a brand they love if they have one bad service experience. Are you going to risk losing your hard-earned clientele? So, if you are considering whether to invest in a customer service system or not – just remember – an efficient, automated solution can pay for itself in the long run. If you want to start simple, add a clear FAQ page, integrating a free or WhatsApp powered chatbot if you can or list a phone number and/or email ID that people can reach you at. This is especially true for new and young brands.

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