Study Reveals Four Customer Care Trends to Take Flight Over Next Five Years

It seems as though every day there’s a new customer care trend making headlines. As a contact center leader, it’s your job to stay abreast of industry trends to ensure your business is able to successfully compete with others.

Recently, Xerox released a survey of over 6,000 consumers from around the world, titled “The State of Customer Service,” which examines the top four customer care trends contact center leaders should keep their eye on now and into the near future.

“It’s clear that the relationships between consumers and brands will change radically over the next five years,” said Tim Joyce, chief innovation officer, Xerox Customer Care. “Customers expect a high quality of service and technology, which is maturing to the point where brands can efficiently meet those needs.”

From social media to the Internet of Things (IoT), below is a list of the important customer care trends mentioned in the study:

• Embrace social media support: More consumers are turning to social media to communicate with brands. In fact, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are making changes to their platforms to make it easier for users to reach out to businesses for support. Companies that implement an effective social media support plan will see increases in customer satisfaction.
• Internet of Things takes over care: The Internet of Things (IoT) will soon take over the customer care industry. Soon every machine will be connected, so that customers will no longer have to inquire for service updates or repairs. The machines will simply take care of the issues before the customer even becomes aware there was one. You can already see this trend taking place in many industries.
• Brands will need to become omnipresent: It’s almost impossible for every brand to successfully service customers via every communication channel available. By leveraging advanced analytics, however, companies can do a better job of having a presence in places where their customers frequent most.
• Customer care agent’s role will change: Thanks to advances in technology and the implementation of automation, the role of customer care agents will drastically change. Rather than service hundreds of customers a day, these highly-skilled individuals will be responsible for servicing a select few customers who require the greatest level of support.

While customer care trends evolve, one thing remains the same: customers value great customer service and will handsomely reward companies that provide top quality care. In fact, the survey above found that seven in 10 of those aged over 71, and even 40 percent of Generation Zs (aged 16-20) were prepared to pay more to ease the support process.

While it’s important to stay on top of trends to ensure that your business doesn’t fall behind others within your industry, don’t drastically change your customer care strategy overnight. After all, you know your customers and industry best. Therefore, make strategic changes as you manage your business growth.

Steve Brubaker began his career at InfoCision in 1985. In his current role as Chief of Staff and as a member of the Executive Team, he is responsible for HR, internal and external communications, and manages the company’s legal and compliance departments. Brubaker is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the DMA, SOCAP, and PACE. He also donates his time to serve on several university boards, including the Executive Advisory Board for The Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at The University of Akron and The University of Akron Foundation Board. He is a frequent speaker for national events and has also been honored with a number of awards and recognitions for his contributions to the call center industry.