Although next-level customer service continues to rule the market as a critically important business practice, it doesn’t come without its challenges. Higher interest rates, scarcity of talent, lagging digital transformation and multifaceted customer expectations are complicating organizations’ ability to deliver. Taking a comprehensive look into some of the issues facing CX leaders exposes some problems that are demanding long-term solutions in order to deliver value both for the customer and the organization.
“Self-service” has become a reliable service safety net for most organizations in 2023 – after all, 49% of consumers say they want it – but how reliable is it really? When examining the self-service model more closely, research shows that 74% of B2C customers and 67% of B2B customers fail to complete their self-service journey, and instead turn to assisted channels. The takeaway here is that in spite of businesses investing in self-service tools, consumers still don’t trust in the solutions provided by problem-solving on their own. Many self-service sites lack the appropriate information, ease of use and functionality that come with assisted channels, which then affect the cost savings and CX that organizations expect to gain through the use of self-service – contributing to an overall low success rate.
How to reverse this trend? Businesses must view self-service as a stand-alone product, worthy of its own investment, technology, and management. The creation of a management plan that supports both self and assisted service can create true cost savings and build powerful CX capabilities.
Additionally, today’s customer service specialists experience increasingly complex challenges in the face of rising consumer expectations. Surveys show that 73% of representatives believe that the job today requires an exceedingly varied and comprehensive skill set. In fact, on average these individuals need proficiency in at least seven systems in order to provide high-quality customer service. One way to address this issue is to provide reps with a carefully designed and customized desktop that connects them with every single key element pertaining to customer interactions. This includes immediate access to the customer’s needs, transactions, history, status, decision-making and more. The “connected rep” has an edge over their “unconnected” counterparts, and by having access to dynamic workflows that quickly integrate customer information with company knowledge, they can consistently improve customer outcomes.
It’s also true that service leaders still tend to be excluded from important CX initiatives, in spite of the fact that these same leaders view customer service as a major determining factor of CX. This issue can be addressed by focusing on transparency between teams, and establishing and acknowledging the clear link between service and the organization’s business outcomes.
Customer service outsourcing companies can be a dynamic resource in the highly demanding and competitive field of customer service. Considering the weight it carries in today’s market, it can be in an organization’s best interest to team up with an industry leader like Anexa. As a two-decade veteran and award-winning customer service partner, we enlist teams of empathetic agents who provide always-on support, and personalized, conversational experiences – whether as a human or a chatbot. We equip our CX specialists with the tools to have true customer intelligence – that know who the customer is, where they’re coming from, and what their issue might be – allowing them to deliver truly high-quality service. We understand the formula that increasing customer retention rates by only 5% can increase profits up to 95% – we like those numbers, and you will too.
Call Anexa today to discuss your unique customer service challenges and how to make CX a genuine opportunity for growth and revenue.