8 Data-Backed Customer Service Trends for 2021 | #customersupport #supporticket

Each year, decision-makers scour reports on updated customer service trends to learn about how industry and customer expectations are evolving, and then use these as guidelines when planning their customer service strategy. Unfortunately, much of last year’s trends and predictions were disrupted when ‘unpredictability’ turned out to be the most common trend. 

However, we can still look back at the learnings from 2020 – how businesses and customers have adopted new behaviors and expectations – and predict customer service trends for 2021.

This blog contains eight data-backed trends that give you a clear picture of how customer support and customer expectations will pan out in the new year. In addition to a detailed look at each trend, you will also find actionable tips that will help you incorporate these trends in your customer service strategy. 

Let’s dive in. 

8 data-backed customer service trends for 2021

#1 Customer service chatbots will become indispensable 

A majority of customer service teams in the last year have reported challenges such as high response and resolution times, increased workload, and high agent turnover. An easy and effective solution to tackle all of these problems in the coming year is deploying customer-facing chatbots. According to the New CX Mandate Report, 42% of leaders in ANZ found customer-facing AI chatbots to be the most critical tool to maintain service levels through the crisis in 2020.

During the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, when contact centers faced the twin pressures of a non-functioning phone channel and a huge spike in call volumes, organizations turned to chat and bots to fill the void. COVID-19 is accelerating the trend towards AI-powered customer interactions and is a wake-up call for organizations that don’t have the capability in AI and chatbots. – Dr. Steve Nuttall, Director, Fifth Quadrant 

The consequences of the pandemic alone are not the only reason why chatbots will be rendered indispensable in 2021. Brands like PhonePe and Posti have reported a 60% ticket deflection rate, and a 98% reduction in wait time respectively, and thus drive home the importance of AI-enabled chatbots. 

How to choose the perfect customer service chatbot for your team: 

Amongst all the chatbot features that are available, here are the top three features that will ensure that your chatbot is a success:

– AI and ML-powered solution to deliver intuitive and intent-led experiences.

– No-code chatbot builder to build your own bot without any technical assistance.

– Robust third-party integrations to set up advanced automated workflows.

You can also give Freddy AI for CX a spin – this chatbot solution comes with everything you need to deliver seamless automated customer service. 

#2 Mobile-first customer service will gain more popularity

The pandemic has forced people to stay indoors for a long duration now. As a result of this, customers are reported to have increased screen-time, especially on mobile phones — the 2020 Ofcom UK benchmark found that over four-fifths of time spent online is now spent on mobile devices¹.

Since over 66% of the global population has access to mobile phones², businesses are looking to offer mobile-first customer engagement in 2021. For customers, getting assistance on-the-go through their preferred channels of communication such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, or using self-service is the most ideal service experience. 

Tips to improve mobility:

– Optimize your website and self-service portal for mobile devices: The first step to improving mobility is building mobile-friendly websites and self-service portals (91% of websites are not mobile-friendly³).

– Offer in-app support: If you have a mobile application, then it’s imperative that you embed an FAQ section within your app – this is the best way to ensure that your customers find an answer without having to leave the app. If you have the resources, you can even invest in deploying a chatbot or offering in-app chat support. 

– Engage with customers on mobile-first messaging apps: Platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat, and Apple Businesses Chat enable you to offer friction-free support that enriches customer experience.

#3 Proactive customer service via chat will reign supreme in 2021

The ability to anticipate or predict customer issues and offer solutions in advance will never go out of trend. In fact, when delivered through live chat and messaging, proactive customer service is going to reign supreme in 2021.  

Organizations need to be able to take service to the customer, rather than waiting for the customer to come to them. Adopting emerging channels of support like SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, etc. allows for proactive service delivery and ‘anytime engagement’. – Pradeep Rathinam – Chief Customer Officer, Freshworks

As Pradeep Rathinam pointed out, live chat and messaging applications will be the prime channels for proactive customer service. In fact, 44% of customer service leaders worldwide voted chat as the most critical tool in maintaining service levels through the crisis, and are investing more in live-chat and messaging apps in 2021. Customers are going to look forward to proactive updates and solutions via live chat or mobile-first messaging apps.

Steps to implement a proactive customer service strategy:

– Analyze your customer journey to identify the instances where website bounces and churn occur.

– Predict user frustration and set up chat popup triggers by studying your customers’ behavior.

– Leverage live chat and messaging channels to share updates proactively.

– Correct the root causes of your common issues by going through the customer service complaints you’ve received and spotting the commonly reported ones.

– Build a self-service portal with FAQs as well as any information that you think is going to be useful to customers.

– Recover abandoned carts and follow up on payment failures. 

#4 The future of customer service is hybrid

Remote work or work from home was a trend that nobody could have predicted at the start of 2020. While there might have been a few hiccups at the start, most businesses successfully managed to transition to a remote work model. 

However nearly one year in, employees are starting to miss face-to-face interactions and the office atmosphere. Plus, with parts of the world opening up for business, what will be the stance on WFH in 2021? More importantly, how does this impact customer service teams?

The findings in the New CX Mandate report state that 65% of customer service leaders worldwide state that remote or hybrid work models are the way forward. This model of working allows for work-from-home as well as working from the office. Within this structure, teams or departments will be split between working remotely and working in-house.

The hybrid work model is here to stay and proved its resilience during the last few months. However, this new work style requires more than flexible office set-ups and remote collaboration tools. It calls for a significant culture change as customers and employees do expect state-of-the-art productivity (chatbots, messaging apps, deep personalization) while requiring extra care and empathy. – Nicholas Petit, Founder & CEO, Native 

Tips to successfully implement a hybrid work model in customer service

– Invest in remote ready technology: The companies that were able to make the smoothest transition to remote work, were those who had already invested in cloud-based technology for their critical business processes. Make sure your entire tech stack, including your customer service software, your tools for project management, collaboration, and communication are all remote-ready. 

– Equip remote agents with the necessary hardware: Your remote support agents need to have access to good quality headsets, laptops, routers, and monitors in order to offer seamless customer service. If your support team does not operate in shifts, you can split the hardware available between the remote and in-house agents. However, if you do operate in shifts, then investing in new ones for remote agents is the best way to go.

– Adopt a remote training and onboarding model: Conduct all your training and onboarding activities remotely in order to avoid duplication of effort by carrying out these processes both online and offline.

#5 Agent wellness will gain more importance than ever

We all know that happy employees make for happy customers. Especially in a high-stress field like customer service, maintaining a sound mind and body is critical to creating good customer experiences. 

With the emergence of the pandemic, agent wellness has taken a huge beating. Agents faced the brunt of the sudden shift to working from home (having to work while the rest of the family is asleep) and the increase in customer queries. To ensure agent morale and productivity picks up, businesses will take measures to increase agent wellness.

Tips to improve agent wellness in your organization: 

– Collect employee feedback to feel the pulse of your support team.

– Incentivise productivity through gamification.

– Ensure agents have job gratification and clear career paths.

– Manage shift schedules effectively to ensure that agents don’t burn out.

– Offer constructive feedback that guides agents in the right direction. 

– Provide customized training that is tailored to each individual’s needs. 

#6 Empathy will be a key factor in all business decisions

The last year has reminded us to tap into this emotion and extend our human side to those in need. Likewise, 90% of employees, HR professionals, and CEOs think that empathy is important⁴. All throughout 2020, businesses had to keep empathy at the forefront right from the boardroom to the floor. This helped with:
– holistic decision making that is inclusive of employee needs and wellness
– better collaboration within the organization since managers and team members were more compassionate
– improving customer happiness as the solutions provided were comprehensive and satisfactory.

“The pandemic has shown that an organization’s ability to deliver great service and experience to their customers is dependent on their ability to be empathetic. In 2021, organizations will increasingly get to grips with what that means.

That will require them to start thinking holistically about it and will lead them to start thinking about developing an empathetic musculature for their organization i.e. what strategy, systems, processes, design, technology, leadership, people and training they need to put in place to make their whole organization sustainably more empathetic to their customers.” – Adrian Swinscoe – Customer Service & Experience Advisor 

Tips to incorporate empathy in decision making and organizational processes: 

– Build an integrated business model that focuses on adding a human element (empathy) in all business processes and customer interactions. 

– Maintain direct and open lines of communication that allow for candid conversations.

#7 Organizations will leverage agent-facing AI to assist agents

Customer service leaders around the world have recorded a 40-49% dip in service quality, first response times and agent productivity*. With no assurance that ticket volumes are going to drop, customer service agents are going to have a tough time delivering if they don’t have some assistance or have a portion of workload lifted off their shoulders. 

In order to prevent agent burnout, over 65% of customer service leaders across the globe are looking to invest in AI, chatbots, and automation*. With a supporting sidekick – in the form of an internal chatbot or agent-facing AI – agents will be better equipped to tackle the increasing volume of customer queries in 2021.

How to reduce agent workload with AI, automation, and an internal knowledge base

– Automate workflows however simple or complex: With today’s technology, you no longer need to stop with automating ‘simple’ workflows. The powerful combination of AI and robotic process automation will enable you to automate complex cross-product backend workflows, in addition to the simple ones. Getting the repetitive questions and tasks out of your team’s plate will go a long way in easing agent bandwidth.

– Deploy an agent-facing chatbot: With an internal content repository, agents can access information whenever they need to. However, with an agent-facing chatbot, in addition to getting the right resource, agents can also get recommendations for the next best response or course of action. By interacting with the preconfigured flows in the agent assist bot, agents will always know the right thing to say and will thus be able to offer faster responses and resolutions.

#8 Customer service will play a bigger role in converting sales opportunities

Customer service conversations are increasingly proving to be opportunities to upsell and cross-sell. For customers, interacting with customer-facing teams before making a purchase decision quells inhibitions and minimizes uncertainty. For instance, Instantprint, the UK based online printing company found that 70% of customers who chat with their team before placing an order gained a bit of confidence in the service they are signing up for, and they paid 24% higher.

Since customer service reps interact with customers day in and day out, they have a thorough understanding of the customers’ issues and can suggest the right solutions at the right time. 

Tips to convert customer service conversations into sales opportunities

– Share sales enablement resources with customer service reps. 

– Build an assist bot that contains cross-sell and upsell flows. 

Summing up

According to the current customer service trends for 2021, you need to incorporate the following in your support strategy to stay ahead of the curve:
– Adopt a hybrid model of customer service with a remote-friendly tech stack
– Incorporate customer service chatbots to keep up with customer expectations and reduce agent workload
– Deliver mobile-first customer service
– Offer proactive customer support over live chat and messaging applications
– Prioritize agent wellness
– Keep empathy at the forefront of all business decisions, processes, and customer interactions
– Deploy agent assist AI to ease agent bandwidth
– Leverage customer service conversations to upsell and cross-sell.

While these eight trends are forecasted from thorough research, customer service as an industry is constantly evolving. So keep an eye out for changes in the industry (and on this blog – we’ll keep adding the latest trends here 😃).

Source:
* – https://www.freshworks.com/the-new-cx-mandate/
1 – https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/196408/online-nation-2020-summary.pdf
2 – https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/
3 – https://www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/advisor/91-small-business-websites-not-mobile-optimized-211121517.html
4 – https://www.businessolver.com/resources/state-of-workplace-empathy