Customer service is the backbone of every company. Whether you run an eCommerce store or provide digital goods, excellent customer service increases revenue streams, and your customer conversion rate and retains customers.
A successful business strategy must include a customer service plan. Investopedia says having the right people, proper training and the appropriate systems helps a company move in the right direction.
Thankfully, technology is moving at lightning speed and is making its mark on the customer service landscape.
Below, we’ll discuss emerging trends in the market and how you can leverage them to boost your business profile.
Personalized Support
SaaS (Software as a Service) businesses are tapping into the previously underutilized customer service market.
Cloud-based software makes the job much easier by personalizing the customer experience. Partnering with SaaS vendors that understand consumer behavior is a good place to start.
The key is to make every customer feel like they are your top priority. To achieve this, PayPro Global suggests responsive communication platforms. Dedicate multiple online channels for communication with clients.
An instant messaging system and direct contact points are a few solutions to ensure issues are resolved efficiently and in real-time.
Levering Social Media
Previously, social media presence was seen as nice to have and not viewed as a necessity. This is no longer the case.
Sprout Social says nearly three-quarters of adults feel more connected with a brand they can message directly.
Another 66% said they preferred communicating with a business via social media messaging and were more inclined to purchase a product if this option was available.
However, it’s not a matter of responding to messages on social media platforms. Companies must put in the effort when it comes to the quality of their customer service.
Here’s where your social media customer service strategy plays a big part. Consider setting up a customer service messaging protocol for all your social media accounts. Prioritize quality responses and personalize them.
Growing Demand for Self-Service
CX Today has seen a growing shift in the service paradigm from a focus on assisted services to self-service. The advancements in self-service capabilities make this fully possible.
Previously, customers demanded a human voice on the other end of the line, whereas these days they want to self-serve in digital channels.
The latest research is telling of this trend. Gartner found that 40% of Gen Z customers will abandon a service issue if it’s not resolved quickly.
A further 63% who abandoned a service experience said they’ll do less business with that company in the future.
Fortunately, new rich data sources provide the perfect solution to enhance the customer experience.
AI and Automation
Customer support is crucial in a SaaS landscape. That’s why AI and automation are integral to the support ecosystem and help companies streamline operations.
For example, chatbots can automate responses to frequently asked questions, resulting in customers resolving problems at their own pace.
By leveraging AI, a chatbot could automatically transfer a customer to the right support agent.
Generative AI has also proven fruitful in customer support. The technology assists agents by expanding and shifting the tone of their messages based on customer behavior.
However, challenges remain. Tech Xplore notes that generative AI doesn’t yet have a logical understanding of the world.
These models are trained to predict words, but according to researchers their ability to navigate a changing environment is severely stunted.
Large Language Models (LLMs) in particular were found to lag in learning coherent world models.
Best Practices
In an ever-changing world, the one constant is always your customer. A successful customer support strategy entails implementing best practices that guarantee your support team is ready and prepared for every eventuality.
Create an extensive knowledge base to arm your agents with the competency needed to fulfill their jobs.
Ensure product and support teams don’t work in silos. Collaborative tasks produce a streamlined and even workflow.
Develop roadmaps according to customer requests and demands and use them as your blueprint for troubleshooting issues.
Measure and report on key metric performances to assess the outcomes of customer service initiatives.
You can do this by analyzing data from customer feedback. It will offer a better understanding of where your support team needs improvement.
If anything, the above information proves that customer service is not to be taken lightly. An excellent support team can help scale your business, retain loyal clients and increase revenue.
Once you aim for global success, you can incorporate SaaS business tools to deal with sales tax and accept payments to sell your digital products online.
With that being said, if you haven’t already, maybe it’s time to reevaluate your customer relations strategy by integrating a value-driven customer support system.
