Like almost everything in the business world, customer service is changing because of technology. It’s important to understand exactly how it’s changing customer service, if you want to keep up. Here are eight ways that technology will affect the future of customer service.
Face-To-Face Video Communication Will Increase
Video conferencing has become popular in every industry. As people get more and more used to speaking face-to-face over video conferencing software, customers will begin to expect this. Face-to-face video communication will bring a personal touch to online customer service in the future.
Real-Time Messaging Will Outpace Email
Email has been the go-to form of communication for online customer service for a while now. However, that is set to change with real-time messaging becoming more common. Customers will expect to speak to someone immediately and maintain a constant dialogue until their problem has been resolved.
Remote Work Will Become More Normal
The rise of remote work is going to bring a huge change to the way people live their lives. With more people working from home, there will be less need for office space and society will cease to be based around 9-5 office workers. This will also mean that customer service reps will often be working from their own homes, rather than a company building.
Bots Will Help Professionals, Not Replace Them
Some people have predicted that robots will replace customer service representatives. However, it’s far more likely that bots will just become a bigger part of the process. As a customer, you will interact with a bot up until a certain point, then be referred to a customer service rep. The good news is that bots will become more helpful the more advanced they become.
Customer Service Decisions Will Be More Data-Driven
Data is becoming more accessible to all businesses. That means that customer service decisions will be more data-driven in the future. As businesses begin to analyze customer service data, they will be able to make decisions that benefit customers. This is a trend that will be seen in all industries.
Social Media Will Become A Standard Customer Service Tool
Social media is becoming an essential business tool. Almost all online businesses rely on social media channels as a way to drive traffic and communicate with customers. This is a trend that is going to gather momentum. It’s likely in the future that social media will become one of the most important customer service tools.
More Businesses Will Outsource Customer Service
One of the biggest trends in customer service is the rise of outsourcing. It is becoming more cost-effective to outsource things like IT support and live chat. This will allow businesses to focus on other departments but it could lead to a lack of personality in customer service.
Customer Service Reps Will Solve Fewer Problems
The rise of technology will likely mean that customer service reps will have to solve fewer problems. Manufacturing will become more consistent, packaging will become stronger, and shipping will become more reliable. All of this means that customer service reps will have less work to do.
