AI has been the talk of the town for a while now. Business, health, sports, education, you name it, they are all leveraging AI into their operations. So, it comes as no surprise when most people talk about the role of AI and tech advancement within the customer service industry.
Tech experts believe that while most of the jobs will be fully replaced by the upcoming tech advancements, customer service, support, and customer success will predominately stay the same. This does not mean that tech will not affect these niches. Instead, it will always require a human touch that is only possible when there is human involvement.
Tech features and tools like new video call tools, real-time messaging service, Chabot, self-service, and even customer success might seem like they are changing but these are just supplementary tools to ease the workload. For instance, big brands like Xfinity are already empowering their Xfinity customer service team with advanced technology to deliver top-notch service.
Now that we have reached this point, you might think that if it’s not getting replaced then why is there any debate about it all? Well, to answer this question, companies will be trying to work along with these tools. In the future, tech advancement will help in cutting down the workforce and empowering companies to boost efficiency.
If you are a business owner, customer support agent or you are customer success manager, then keep reading, as we will discuss some of the tech trends that will change the course of customer service.
Top 5 Tech Trends That Will Change Customer Service
1. Video Calls
Video calling will become a reality in the next few years. For most people this is shocking but video calling will help the companies to address tech issues right away. Apart from this, it will cut the overall response time to address issues that involve document verification.
Imagine your company refusing to offer you help unless you bring the documents along with you or you verify your identity. In the future, most companies will convert the verification process online. One picture, video call, or just a document scanning, and your work will be done in no time. This will be ideal for companies with lengthy processing times.
2. Real-Time Chat Will Replace Email
Remember the time when companies would ask you to leave a complaint via email? When was the last time you wrote an email to a company? Most of the customers have stopped writing emails mainly because they want prompt replies.
To address this, more companies are moving toward live chat, calls, and other Chabot. As email support is becoming negligible, you will soon notice companies no longer using email support at all.
3. Empowering Consumers
Companies are moving towards self-service so they can empower customers. While most people think that this will be a difficult move, others feel that empowering customers via self-service will cut down the load on customer support.
For instance, big corporates have long waiting queues. Once you call them for support or complain, you will spend at least 30 minutes dancing to the hold tune. On the contrary, when companies add FAQs and address simple problems on the company pages, this instantly reduces the unnecessary call loads and helps customer service agents address issues that require urgent attention.
4. Data-Driven Work
In the world of customer service where more agents are dependent on guesswork, feeling, and emotions the future will be completely data-driven. Forget about trying to tailor your opinion right away, companies will now keep tabs on the way emotions and responses are dealt with. From analyzing many customers to follow-up calls, nearly everything will be data-driven.
For instance, companies will now prioritize issues based on the number of complaints at hand. This will help them not only to address time-sensitive complaints first but also to read patterns, predict issues and prevent them from happening again.
5. Standard Customer Service Channels Will Change
The future of customer service will be informal and so the channels will shift from formal to informal as well. As Gen Z has entered the market, you will hardly come across a well-composed email or any formal discussion. This means that as Boomers are leaving the market, the core of customer service is going to change as well.
According to expert predictions, the future of customer service will be social media. People will fully shift to social media to seek tech guidance and register complaints. A good way to get acquainted with this change is to work on your online presence as a brand and train your customer support team accordingly.
Wrap Up
Learning about the upcoming trends does not mean your time as the customer support server is over. Instead, learning the new trends will help you recession-proof your career, helping you become irreplaceable.