UJET, a provider of customer support communications and solutions, has outlined a set of ‘Customer Support Predictions’, compiled by company Founder and CEO Anand Janefalkar. Such ideas are important, given that excellent customer service is critical to running any successful business.
For this communication is vital. Demonstrating to customers that a company is listening to them and values their feedback, combined with the ability to convey clear messages with warmth and empathy, are necessary factors to enhance the customer experience.
The predictions are:
Messaging Will Surpass Voice
“While voice will always remain an important channel for support, especially for urgent issues, in 2020, we will see messaging (SMS and chat) overtake voice as the most critical support channel. Woe to customer service organizations that cannot provide an omnichannel support experience that includes messaging, as this will most surely equal the success or demise of the overall customer experience (CX).”
Multichannel Will Expand to Multimedia
“In 2020, expect to see customer service organizations turn their attention to optimizing each support pathway to meet the tech-savvy needs of many of their customers. Chief among enhanced capabilities will be multimedia. The ability to share screenshots, photos and even video between the customer and support professional will become commonplace during support interactions.”
Data Will Break Down Silos Between Customer Support and Other Teams
“In 2020, the ‘digital transformation’ conversation that has become commonplace across IT, will extend into the customer service center. We will begin to see the impact and value of support data being shared across the enterprise. Customer feedback, sentiment, profile data and more will be securely shared across organizations helping teams such as marketing, sales and product development to make more strategic decisions. And as a result, the importance and value of customer support will be elevated as a whole.”
Agent Specialization Will Be A Key Focus
“In 2020, as the presence of technologies such as AI and Machine Learning within the contact center continue to grow, and more customers are directed towards bots and self-service options, support agents will become hyper-specialized. Agent specialization will not only be geared towards channels, but also centered around specific issues, situations and the urgency of incoming support interactions.”
AI Will Improve the Customer Support Employee Experience (EX), as well as the Customer Experience (CX)
“In 2020, AI will dramatically improve the employee experience (EX). The ability to automatically and instantly collect data from across multiple channels, analyze it and provide actionable insight will enable support agents to more quickly, easily and accurately address customer inquiries and come to highly satisfactory issue resolution.”
