Before customer experience (CX) was a thing, businesses treated customer service as an afterthought. They made no deliberate efforts to improve customer service. Then emerged some semblance of customer service, characterized by designated booths where customers would queue to access customer service.
As businesses shifted from customer service of convenience to customer-centric efforts, customer service moved to the telephone. Still, customers would be put on hold for hours, waiting to speak to the “next available representative.” Power still lies in the hands of the service/product provider. However, with the emergence of social media, power shifted back to the customer.
Today’s customer has limitless social media outlets at their disposal. They can now communicate instantly through instant messaging platforms, Twitter, Facebook, or email. Businesses also do not control these media, meaning customers can now share bad experiences with the masses unrestricted. In the past, businesses monopolized information outlets, restricting information about them and their products that became accessible to customers.
Today’s customer expects the whole CX package, and they want it 24/7, through a most convenient channel. Businesses that serve a global market have had to innovate. They realized they serve customers who speak different languages and are in different time zones. A customer, say in the far-east, is not waiting around for a US-based office to open in the morning so they can get answers to their most pressing questions.
The quest for on-time, convenient customer service gave birth to self-service. It started with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), empowering customers to solve customer service issues on their command. Then came Artificial Intelligence-powered, text-based chatbots. Today, some smarbots leverage the power of predictive analytics to tailor CX to individual customer needs, improving customer loyalty and retention.
Customer service used to be about assisting customers on specific issues. However, the focus has shifted to CX for a more holistic approach to customer service. Today, the customer service experience is so important that 63 percent of Americans would permit companies to collect personal information for a more personalized CX.
CX maps out a customer’s journey and interactions with a business. It takes individual customer service needs and other important touchpoints into account. It has become one of the most sought-after drivers of the business’ success. In 2019, 75 percent of businesses competed on the CX front. Businesses that are not doing enough to streamline the customer experience risk losing customers to those that put their customers first. Even the most beloved brands risk losing customers because of bad customer service experiences.
A 2018 PWC survey revealed that 59 percent of Americans would avoid a brand after numerous bad experiences. For 17 percent of Americans, one bad experience is enough to walk away, even if they love the product or brand. On the brand front, customer-centric businesses registered 4-8 percent higher revenue than the rest.
The age of omnichannel customer support is here. Customers who can’t reach customer support personnel through email can tweet them and have their issues resolved in no time. There are FAQs, chatbots, and smartbots to walk them through the troubleshooting process for the handy ones. Today’s customer service endeavors are customer-centric, and businesses that treat the customer as an afterthought will lose them.
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