Tag Archives: customer service

The Role of Respect in Customer Service

The Role of Respect in Customer Service

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Some of you will not recognize the name Rodney Dangerfield, who was one of the funniest comedians of his time, if not all time. He passed away in 2004. (For those who aren’t familiar with Dangerfield, go to YouTube and search for his name, but only if you want to smile and laugh. And just a warning, some of his comedy club material is R-rated.)

Dangerfield had a signature line: I don’t get no respect. For example, “I don’t get no respect …

… When I was a kid, I played hide-and-seek. They wouldn’t even look for me.

… When I was a kid, my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.

… When I was a kid, I was so ugly my parents had to hang a pork chop around my neck to get the dog to play with me.”

That was fun, but it’s time to get serious. I was recently asked about the Pillars of Customer Service. Specifically, I was asked what I thought was the most important pillar.

Respect Cartoon from Shep Hyken

First, there are many “Pillars” of customer service, and if you do a little research, you’ll find articles by experts and examples from companies’ vision statements. As I thought of many of these, one immediately came to mind as an overarching important pillar:

“Respect the Customer.”

It may seem obvious that we should respect our customers. After all, without them, we don’t have a business. So, with that in mind, here are three of my favorite stats and findings about customer respect from my annual customer service research:

  • 61% of customers don’t think companies or brands respect their time! Ouch! This is because customers don’t like to wait on hold for long periods of time, or anything else that seems like a waste of their precious time. And speaking of making customers wait on hold …
  • 51% of customers are likely or very likely to switch companies or leave a brand because they had to wait too long on hold. It’s impossible to never make a customer hold. And, the concept of “too long” is different from one customer to the next. However, to mitigate the appearance of disrespect, at least let your customers know how long they will have to wait, and even better, give them the option of being called back.
  • 60% of customers are likely or very likely to switch companies or leave a brand because the company didn’t respond fast enough. This goes back to respecting your customers’ time. How long do they have to wait for a response?

While these findings focus on respecting the customer’s time, there are many other areas and opportunities to show respect to your customers. So, sit down with your team and discuss the answer to this simple question: Do you show your customers respect?

Image Credits: Pexels, Shep Hyken

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Creating an Unforgettable Customer Service Experience

Creating an Unforgettable Customer Service Experience

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

There are two reasons your customer service is unforgettable: either it’s really good or it’s really bad.

Welcome to modern-day customer service, where, according to our annual customer service research (sponsored by RingCentral), 43% of customers would rather clean a toilet than call customer support.

Customers don’t want to call customer support. Perhaps something like this has happened to you. You make the call, wait on hold for an unreasonable amount of time, tell your story to a customer support rep who doesn’t have the expertise needed and transfers you to someone else, and in the process, accidentally disconnects you (UGH!), and when you call back, after another unreasonable hold time, you end up repeating your question to someone worse than the last rep. I can continue, but you get the idea. This is what customers fear will happen on their next call because, unfortunately, it’s happened to them too many times.

Of course, it’s not always like this. But you can’t ignore that customers’ expectations are higher than ever, which raises the bar for customer support. They have experienced what great service looks like from customer-focused organizations. They like it and become frustrated when they don’t get it from other companies.

I’m fortunate to be part of the board of advisors for CCW (Contact Center Week), the largest contact center organization in the world. The members of the board are the who’s who of customer experience (CX) leaders from recognizable brands you’ve done business with. The board’s conversations center around creating the best experience for customers. AI and other technologies are driving a better experience, but only for those companies willing to invest in them. The costs have come down, making it affordable for almost any size organization.

Many industries are improving, yet even with the best companies, there is always room for improvement. A key is to understand how customers think. For our research, we surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. consumers to understand what they think of today’s customer service and CX, including specific questions about their experiences with contact centers.

First, some general findings that should cause concern:

  • In 2024, 91% of U.S. consumers think companies should put more emphasis on customer service than they have in the past.
  • In the past year, 43% of customers say they have had more bad customer service experiences than in previous years.
  • When calling customer support, 61% of customers feel that the company does not value their time.

Let’s drill down where customer service seems to matter most: the contact center. To begin, there is a shift to self-service support, often fueled by AI. With all the hype around AI and customer service, you think it would be better than it is, but it’s not, and for the simple reason that not all companies and brands have invested in newer technology. For those that have, they are reaping the benefits of great ratings. And some customers love self-service so much they won’t do business with a company that doesn’t offer it. We asked about self-service versus making a phone call to a company for support and found that:

  • A phone call is still the No. 1 communication channel. Seventy percent of customers prefer to call a company to solve a problem versus through a digital self-service experience.
  • Some companies have chosen to eliminate the phone, only offering self-service solutions. There’s a risk to this, as 67% of customers would not feel comfortable doing business with a company that doesn’t offer live support.
  • However, there is a small group of customers, 26%, who have stopped doing business with a company because self-service options weren’t offered. Many of these customers are younger Gen-Z and Millennials.
  • Even if you have older customers, don’t let these numbers cause you to abandon self-service support. Over half (60%) of customers always try a company’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on its website or other digital self-service options before calling for help. Typically, a customer goes to the company’s website to get the phone number. If there is an obvious way for them to try to get their question answered or problem resolved, a majority of customers will give it a try.

And once the customer does connect with a customer support agent, if the experience starts to “go south,” the result is an angry customer who won’t come back. The reasons are as follows:

  • 81% of customers said rudeness or apathy would likely cause them to switch companies or leave a brand.
  • 72% said being transferred to different people would cause them to not come back.
  • 68% said having to repeat the same story again and again would cause them to leave.
  • 51% said waiting on hold for too long would give them a reason to move on.

This sounds like the scenario toward the top of the article. Sometimes, the agent doesn’t even need to connect with a customer to make them become upset. Eight out of 10 U.S. consumers (79%) have called customer support, gotten an automated menu system, repeatedly yelled “Agent” or “Representative” into the phone and eventually hung up out of frustration.

But it’s not all gloom and doom for the customer service and the contact center world. Even though customers are not always happy to contact customer support, when it’s good they come back, tell their friends and write positive reviews. So, let’s close with some of the more positive findings:

  • 85% of customers are willing to go out of their way to do business with a company that delivers a better service experience.
  • 51% will pay more, indicating that a great service experience makes the price less relevant.
  • Finally, the top three reasons customers come back are helpful, knowledgeable and friendly employees. (That’s all it takes? How hard is that?)

Well, although it sounds simple it’s not necessarily easy or easy to find. But now that you know the secret, it’s time to set some goals. I’ll add another word to those three for a truly winning combination: consistency. If your customer service reps are consistently helpful, knowledgeable and friendly, you will be unbeatable!

Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons, Shep Hyken

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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Aligning Leadership Goals with Customer Service Excellence

Aligning Leadership Goals with Customer Service Excellence

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

My friend Sterling Hawkins just wrote a great article about the tension between the leadership of a company and the salesforce. Hawkins reports the president of a Fortune 500 company told him, “Tension between the salesforce and leadership is normal. One is always bargaining with the other for more. The sales team wants more time and budget, and the leadership wants more sales.”

That made me think of the tension that is sometimes created between leadership and the customer service team. In the end, it’s mostly because of unrealistic expectations.

Customer Service Goals Cartoon

It reminds me of an episode of Amazing Business Radio when I interviewed Bill Price, Amazon’s first VP of global customer service, who shared founder and CEO Jeff Bezos’s philosophy about customer service, which was that the experience should be so frictionless that customers wouldn’t need support.

Obviously, a retailer the size of Amazon not needing customer support is unrealistic, but the goal is lofty. Bezos recognized the need for a customer support department and needed someone to run it. In the job interview, Bezos asked Price, “What’s your definition of customer service?” Price answered, “The best service is no service,” and it was apparently the right answer. Price got the job.

In customer service and CX, it’s impossible to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Still, you must have reasonable expectations. You can’t expect there to never be a problem. You can’t expect a perfect NPS or customer satisfaction rating. But what you can do is create goals, expectations and KPIs that positively impact forward progress.

Here’s another – more generic – example. There are 32 teams in the National Hockey League, and only one will win the Stanley Cup. At the beginning of the season, it’s reasonable for a team’s leadership to say to the players, “Let’s try to win the Stanley Cup!” That’s probably what most teams strive for. What the teams’ leadership doesn’t say is, “You must win every game.”

Creating unrealistic goals and objectives is demotivating. In CX (and just about every other part of a company), leaders should meet with their teams to define success, create realistic goals, include some “stretch goals,” and push their people to continuously improve and be more successful. The right conversations lead to a unified organization headed toward the same goal.

So, what’s a reasonable goal for your customer service teams? Is it higher customer satisfaction scores, higher percentages of first-call resolution, shorter hold times, or something else? Whatever it is, everyone must get in sync and agree on a plan. Then, as a unified team, execute it with a commitment to always doing their best and improving.

Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons, Shep Hyken

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A $3.7 Trillion Customer Experience Problem

A $3.7 Trillion Customer Experience Problem

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Bad customer experiences could cost organizations throughout the world $3.7 trillion annually. That’s according to new research by the experience management company Qualtrics. This figure is up 19% from the company’s projections last year ($3.1 trillion). This is a mind-blowing statistic considering the importance companies and brands are putting on customer service and experience.

During the third quarter of 2023, Qualtrics surveyed about 28,400 consumers in 26 countries about their bad experiences with organizations across 20 different industries. The good news is that the survey found consumers had 2% fewer bad experiences compared to the year before. Still, because of increased spending and other factors, the result is a potential loss that, to put it in perspective, is more than double the U.S. deficit in 2023.

Our just released 2024 customer service and CX research (sponsored by RingCentral) also has some important findings that support the need to provide a better experience. While the Qualtrics survey is international, we focused on the U.S. consumer, matching the census for age, gender, ethnicity and geography. So, what do these findings mean for a company or brand? They have two choices: accept the loss due to a bad experience or create a competitive advantage with a service experience that drives higher sales, higher profits and customer retention. Consider the following:

  • In 2024, 88% of customers think customer service is more important than ever. That’s up from 83% in 2022 and 2023. In 2010, major consulting firms (Walker, Forrester, Bain and others) started predicting that within 10 years, the customer experience would be as important—if not more so—than the product. Of course, the product has to work, but comparable products can usually be purchased from numerous retailers or vendors.
  • In 2024, 64% of customers said no matter how much they enjoy the product, if the company doesn’t provide good customer service, they will find another company to do business with. And that’s the point those major consulting firms were making more than 10 years ago! While product quality will always be important, the majority of today’s customers (more than six out of 10) insist on an experience that meets their expectations.
  • In 2024, 85% of customers are willing to go out of their way to do business with a company that has better service. That’s up from 76% last year. Customers are willing to put forth more effort, spend more time, drive farther and put up with other inconveniences if they know the company or brand will provide a better experience than a CX laggard that may be more convenient. So, the question is: Are you the company that customers go out of their way to do business with?
  • In 2024, 94% of customers feel convenience is important. Convenience is the highest rated experience customers want. But as you saw in the prior finding, convenience with bad customer service still puts you at a high risk of losing customers.
  • In 2024, the top three reasons customers come back to a company are helpful, knowledgeable and friendly employees. Customer service doesn’t have to be complicated. How hard is it for people to be helpful and friendly? And being knowledgeable is a function of training and education. These three together create a powerful experience that gets customers to come back and evangelize a company or brand.

These findings are meant to make you think about the advantages and disadvantages of delivering an excellent experience. I’ve always preached that customer service is common sense—that’s not always so common. Customer experience includes service, but there’s more to it as you look beyond the traditional human-to-human contact, and instead, analyze every interaction the customer has with your organization. To eliminate some of the complications and confusion, start with the end in mind, which is to understand your customers’ “journey” and what you must do to meet their needs and expectations. Build out the experience from there—an experience that doesn’t push them to the competition, but instead gets them to say, “I’ll be back.”

Image Credits: Pixabay
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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24 Customer Experience Mistakes to Stop in 2024

24 Customer Experience Mistakes to Stop in 2024

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

My friend and fellow Customer Experience (CX) expert Brittany Hodak and I recently began a 52-week series for 2024 titled Shep and Brittany’s Super Amazing Show. In the second episode, rather than talk about what to do in 2024, we shared several tips on what not to do. More specifically, it’s about what we should stop doing. That inspired me and I thought it would be fun to put together a list of twenty-four (24) CX things to stop doing in 2024.

Now, this is important: Not everyone or every company is doing any or all of these. You and your organization may not be guilty of even one of these, but discussing the list can get you thinking about other things to stop doing or give you an idea of something to start doing. So, here are 24 things companies do that annoy their customers and that need to stop:

1. Stop wasting your customers’ time. If you can’t do something for them, tell them. Help them find alternatives. Don’t string your customer along.

2. Stop with long hold times. This is a major way of wasting a customer’s time. Along with this are those recorded messages that say “we are sorry and respect your time” … but we’re still too busy to answer your call. If you can’t stop long hold times, tell the customer how long it will be with an option to call back.

3. Stop using outdated technology. Your competitors will start using newer technologies, and guess what? Your customers might notice.

4. Stop using company jargon and technical language your customers might not understand. They become very frustrated.

5. Stop with the irritating “pop-ups” on websites. People hate when they land on a website and a window pops up before they can start reading the content. Then another, and sometimes another! There’s a right time and right way to do it. Keep the customer in mind when you allow “pop-up windows” on your website.

6. Stop saying, “No problem,” when your customer says, “Thank you.” Was it a problem? Of course not. For some reason, this has become a standard response, and even if it really wasn’t a problem, it is just the wrong response. Just say, “Your welcome,” or, “My pleasure.”

7. Stop with unnecessary apologies. Some people say, “I’m sorry,” again and again. I’m not suggesting you don’t apologize to customers when there is a problem or complaint. You should, but don’t over-apologize. It’s not necessary. An apology at the beginning of taking care of the conversation is appropriate. And a “thank you” and final apology at the end is always appreciated. But repeatedly saying “I’m sorry” could come across as defensive and insincere.

8. Stop focusing only on your customers when working on your CX and service initiatives. Employees must also be considered. A great customer experience starts with a great employee experience.

9. Stop spamming customers with too many unwanted messages.

10. Stop sending your customers generic messages (promotions, notes, emails, etc.). If you’re going to send a message, find a way to personalize it. And even if it is personalized, go back and re-read number nine.

11. Get out of the “one-size-fits-all” mindset. This falls under the topic of personalization, but this is not about a marketing message. We must recognize and embrace people’s differences in today’s diverse culture.

12. Stop causing friction. What part of your process could go away? Do you force your customers to take extra steps to do business with you? Find ways to eliminate anything that causes friction.

13. Stop ignoring your customers’ feedback. If the customer takes the time to share a comment, thank them, and if it is appropriate, do something with it.

14. Stop arguing with customers, even when they are wrong. I’ve written this many times before: The customer is NOT always right, but they are always the customer. So let them be wrong with dignity and respect.

15. Stop making your customers wait for you to respond. Get back to people within an appropriate time. Don’t make them wait.

16. Stop being inflexible. If you have standards and processes that customers don’t like, they will find someone else to do business with. NOTE: Some standards could fall under compliance of legal standards. It’s okay to not be flexible on those!

17. Don’t hide add-on fees from your customers. Some hotels are upsetting their guests with resort fees that can only be found in the small print.

18. Stop nickel-and-diming your customers. This is different than hidden fees. It’s about the customer accruing an extra charge every time they turn around.

19. Stop being afraid to tell your customers bad news. They may not like the news, but they will appreciate hearing about it from you directly.

20. Stop making customers come to you when you can go to them. When it comes to convenience, always put the customer first.

21. Stop ignoring your employees’ suggestions. People on the front line are more in sync with customers than anyone. Make it easy for them to let management and leadership know about opportunities to improve.

22. Stop relying solely on digital interactions. Some companies have eliminated customers’ ability to connect with a live customer support agent. Don’t become so enamored with technology that you forget that the most powerful relationship builder is the human-to-human experience.

23. Stop with the bad survey strategy. Surveys can be sent too quickly, too frequently and are often too long. A bad survey taints the customer experience.

24. Never stop trying. Never be complacent. Customer service and CX are continuing journeys that must continually be refreshed and renewed to keep up with the competition and your customers’ needs.

Hopefully you didn’t recognize yourself in any of these scenarios that frustrate customers, but if there’s something you need to work on, now is the time. Most importantly, number twenty-four applies to everyone—never stop trying! There’s always something new on the horizon to advance your customer service and customer experience (CX).

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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Ten Customer Experience and Service Tips for 2024

Ten Customer Experience and Service Tips for 2024

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I want this year to be your best year ever for creating amazing customer service and experiences. And for everything else, too! But as it applies to the customer experience, I thought it would be fun to share some ideas we need to do more of. With that, here are ten (10) ideas. Many, if not all, will apply to you and your business. Do more in 2024!

  1. Be more responsive – We start with one of my favorites. How fast do you respond to customers? Trust me, the faster you respond, the better. Customers appreciate a quick response. I often joke about a company that took four days to get back to me with an answer. If I wanted the answer in four days, I would have waited four days to ask the question! A speedy response creates confidence.
  2. Be more accountable – Don’t make excuses or blame others. Don’t deflect blame if a customer complains about something, even if it’s not your fault. It may not be your fault, but it’s now your opportunity to solve a problem.
  3. Be more flexible – Don’t be so rigid with rules unless they are legal rules. In most instances, the word guidelines are better than rules. You know where you want to go. Be flexible in your thinking when it comes to taking care of customers.
  4. Be more engaged – Your customers want to feel that you’re focusing on them. Actively listen and respond with questions that show you’re paying attention and want more information. Get customers to feel connected to you because they know you care.
  5. Be more consistent – I’m surprised when employees of the same company have different answers to the same question. Or when a company or brand delivers a great experience, but then the next time, it’s just okay. Consistency creates confidence, and confidence can lead to customer loyalty.

  1. Be more accessible – Make it easy for your customers to reach you in multiple ways: phone, email, text, app, and more. Today’s customers will reach out to you in the most convenient way. Today, they may call you. Tomorrow, they may email you. Regardless of the channel, you need to be there and meet their communication expectations.
  2. Be more convenient – Convenience is about being easy to do business with. It used to be a significant competitive differentiator. Today, it’s table stakes. It’s expected that your customer’s experience will be easy with little or no friction. Find ways to be easier to do business with, and customers will spend more money, won’t be as concerned about price, and most importantly, will come back!
  3. Be more proactive – When there’s a problem that you know about, reach out to your customers before they reach out to you. They might not even know there is a problem at all, and the fact that you were proactive builds confidence and trust.
  4. Be more transparent – Don’t hide important information in “fine print.” Be open about policies and anything you know the customer might question or simply not like. Have you ever been hit with a surprise fee? Of course, you have, and I’ll bet you didn’t like that surprise. You don’t want your customers to say, “I’m disappointed. I wish that you told me about that in the beginning.”
  5. Be more memorable – Let’s close with a powerful one. When I’m hired to do a customer service keynote speech, my walk-on music is Bonnie Raitt’s hit song, Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About. That’s what I want you to do with your customers. Give them something (good) to talk about. Why? Because when you give them a memorable experience, it will make them say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of March 2024

Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of March 2024Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are March’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. Agile Innovation Management — by Diana Porumboiu
  2. How to Re-engineer the Incubation Zone — by Geoffrey A. Moore
  3. It’s Not Clear What Innovation Success Is — by Robyn Bolton
  4. How Do You Know If Your Idea is Novel? — by Mike Shipulski
  5. How to Tell if You Are Trusted — by Mike Shipulski
  6. Innovation is Rubbish! — by John Bessant
  7. Celebrating the Trailblazing Women Pioneers of Innovation — by Art Inteligencia
  8. Thinking Differently About Leadership and Innovation — by Janet Sernack
  9. The Remarkable Power of Negative Feedback — by Dennis Stauffer
  10. 10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 1) — by Shep Hyken

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in February that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

Have something to contribute?

Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:

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10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 2)

10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 2)

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

As promised, I’m back with the second part of my top predictions and trends for 2024 in the world of customer service and customer experience (CX). You can read the first five here. So, let’s get started with number six.

6. Social Cause Increases Customer Satisfaction — Earlier this year, my customer experience research found that 43% of consumers believe it’s important that a company supports a social cause that’s important to them. Only 24% said it wasn’t important. Furthermore, those who claim it’s important are the younger customers: Gen-Z and Millennials. Companies are recognizing this, and you’re seeing more advertisements about how brands are focused on important causes like climate change, diversity, poverty and more. Sustainability is one of the top social causes. The Human8 annual Global What Matters Report found that 78% of U.S. respondents believe brands bear a significant responsibility for the planet’s future. Consumers are factoring in a company’s cause and impact on the community—and the world—as they choose where to do business. Forty-one percent will even pay more if the company has a cause that’s important to them. In short, a social cause is now part of the customer experience!

7. Fewer Chances To Get It Right — In our customer service and CX research, we asked, “How many chances would you give a company you were loyal to before switching?” In 2021, the typical American consumer gave a company 3.4 chances if it made mistakes. In 2022, that number decreased to 3.3, and in 2023, it dropped to 3.1. I predict customers will only be loyal to the companies and brands that are loyal to them, which means delivering a service experience they can count on. And I have to emphasize the word loyal in this prediction. That number is even lower for customers without loyalty or love for the company. When it comes to customer service, the bar is higher than ever. Looking back at the first prediction (from last week’s article), our customers are smarter and compare their experiences to the best they’ve had from any brand, not just your competitors. So, get it right the first time. You won’t have many chances, if any, to win back a customer if you don’t meet their expectations.

8. Customers Want It Now — Customers will appear to be less patient than in the past because of what some refer to as the Amazonation of the consumer. Amazon has set the bar high for fast delivery, and now customers get frustrated when another company can’t meet their delivery expectations. But it is more than just delivery. It’s about time. My friend and customer experience expert Jay Baer did a consumer patience study and wrote a book about it, The Time to Win. He discovered that 64% of people say speed is as important as price. Speed, as in delivery and response times, is an essential part of customer experience, and it will only increase as the companies and brands that get it right put pressure on all the others.

9. Convenience Rules — Before the pandemic, convenience was a “nice-to-have” offering. During the pandemic, customers needed convenience, primarily in the form of delivery. And it’s no surprise that it was so well received that delivery became the norm. Convenience in all forms, not just delivery, is appreciated by the customer, and the demand has increased in all areas of business (B2C and B2B). Just as many people will pay more for speed (see No. 8), they will also pay more for convenience—even more than for a good customer experience. (Imagine if you combined service, speed and convenience!) More companies are recognizing what their customers want and adopting a convenience strategy, making it easier to do business with them. This trend will accelerate as convenience—just like a good customer experience—is demanded by the customer and becomes the expectation.

10. AI Will Not Eliminate Jobs — Yes, some jobs may be eliminated and changed, but for the near future, as in 2024, there will be minor disruption. I spend much time studying the contact center/customer support department. This is one place that AI could be used to eliminate jobs, as ChatGPT and other technologies create human-like experiences. Just six months ago, I wrote a Forbes article about my collaboration with Capterra on their 2023 CX Investments Survey to learn how customer service and CX leaders were investing in technology. We specifically asked about AI’s impact on increasing or decreasing CX staff. It was good to learn that only 9% are reducing staff because of AI, while 63% are increasing staff. Fears of layoffs will continue, thanks to hyperbole and overreactions to new AI capabilities, but for the most part, those fears are unfounded. There will be some layoffs, but there will also be opportunities for employees to learn new skills and find new places to work as a result of AI.

So, there you have it, my top predictions and trends for 2024. I’m always optimistic as I look to the future. That doesn’t mean I’ll put my “head in the sand” and ignore negative trends. When appropriate, I’ll share those as well. For now, let’s embrace the opportunities that are in front of us. May 2024 be your best year yet — and each year thereafter be even better than the last!

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 1)

10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 1)

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Here we are at the beginning of 2024. The big trends in customer service and customer experience (CX) revolve around technology. Generative AI has been around for a while. Then along came technologies like ChatGPT, which was introduced at the end of 2022. Hardly any consumers understood what it was—or how powerful. Six months into 2023 a large percentage of consumers still didn’t know, but that has changed, and I’ll share my prediction about ChatGPT-type technologies in the list. In addition, our customer experience research has benchmark questions we’ve used for three or more years to track trends, some of which influenced what is included below. So, here are the first five of ten customer service and experience trends and predictions for 2024:

1. Smarter Customers — I have started my annual predictions with this same one for many years. Our customers are smarter and more demanding than ever (again). Customer service and CX continue to be a focus for most companies. The ones that get it right have taught all customers what good customer service looks like. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling B2C or B2B. All customers are consumers and have experienced brands that deliver an exceptional experience. And those rock star brands are the ones you are now compared to. So don’t just look at your competitors and think you need to be as good as them. Look at the best companies—in any industry—and let them help set your benchmarks. Once again, customers are smarter than last year!

2. Digital Customer Support Improves — The technology that everyone loved five years ago is so outdated compared to what is available today. Not only is today’s technology better, but it is also less expensive to implement. With an investment that’s easier on the bank account and generative AI and ChatGPT-type solutions improving, companies and brands will deliver self-service support that will make customers happy.

3. A Big Mistake — As a follow-up to No. 2, some companies will make the mistake of thinking the latest technologies can replace human-to-human customer support. These companies will become so enamored with the latest and greatest technology that they will make the mistake of thinking they can shut down phone support. Making the switch to 100% digital will not work 100% of the time. More competent companies will recognize the opportunity for a balance between digital and the human-to-human experience. That said, the balance isn’t the same as in the past. Digital will be more important because customers will learn that it’s easier to use and can provide answers faster, but companies must back this up with human support. Finding the right balance is crucial and will vary between companies and industries.

4. Employee Experience (EX) is as Important as CX — This trend has been going on for several years. I included a version of this last year amid what everyone called The Great Resignation. Companies and brands continue to recognize that employee retention is as important, if not more so, than customer retention. Organizations will make more significant moves to keep their best employees. They will create competitive wage and compensation packages (including insurance, PTO and more). The fulfilled employee is more engaged with customers. It is what will drive a better CX. As I’ve said many times before, what’s happening inside an organization is felt on the outside by customers.

5. Fewer Phone Calls, More AI — I could be wrong about this prediction, but I will put myself out there. Our CX research found that year-over-year, more customers preferred making a phone call for customer support than using digital self-service options. In 2021, 59% of customers preferred the phone. In 2022, that increased to 65%. And in 2023, 69% of customers chose the phone over self-service options. Looking at this trend, one might believe that in 2024, the phone will be even more prevalent, but as previously mentioned, today’s AI and ChatGPT-type technologies are not only better, but they are also less expensive. The result is that more companies will be providing better digital service experiences, which means more customers will be happier using them. Our 2024 survey will go out the first week of January, and I can’t wait to see if I’m right or wrong. (Either way, I’ll let you know in a future article.)

Well, that’s the first five of my ten predictions and trends for 2024. Next week, I’ll be back with five more.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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Customer Service and CX – Not Just For Front Line Staff

Customer Service and CX - Not Just For Front Line Staff

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Customer service is not a department. It’s a philosophy that everyone in an organization must embrace. It’s the same with customer experience (CX), which most people view as a strategy. However, both customer service and experience must be rooted in a company’s culture. Everyone plays a part in the customer’s experience, regardless of how deep they are inside of the organization.

My friend Kelechi Okeke, a certified customer experience specialist in Lagos, Nigeria, recently wrote an article about the potential breakdown across different teams and departments when attempting to create a customer-focused culture. The goal is for the entire organization to work in unison, eliminating breakdowns due to disconnects in messaging, not aligning with the culture and just being so “siloed” the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. I contributed a few ideas to his article and thought I would expand on them and share them with the Human-Centered Change and Innovation audience.

When an organization chooses to be more customer-focused, the decision rests with leadership. The mistake is that the attention is fixed on the front line and anyone in direct contact with customers. Many don’t realize the effort must go much deeper than the customer-facing employees. Some, however, will recognize the disconnect and understand that customer service and experience must be an organization-wide effort that is embraced by all employees.

When we work with clients to create a customer-focused culture, the process starts with leadership and department heads meeting to create a customer service/CX vision I refer to as a mantra. This is a simple one-sentence (or less) statement that is short and memorable. For example, Texas Health Huguley created a purpose statement: “People serving people like those we love the most.” That sums up exactly how they want all employees to treat patients, their family members and other employees. That type of statement isn’t a theme for the year. It’s strong enough to be permanently baked into mission, vision and value statements. The mantra is where it starts. It’s the “north star” that everyone focuses on when it comes to customer service and CX.

Once that mantra is defined, it must be communicated. It needs to be reinforced in many ways through ongoing communication over time. This can be through leadership and management presentations, email signature lines, posters, wall art, promotional items, etc. No matter how long ago the mantra was created, all employees must know, understand and live by it.

The next step is training, which is where many companies fall short, specifically in two areas. Some don’t realize that training isn’t something you did. It’s something you do. It must be ongoing and reinforce the original intent of the training. You can’t take people into a room for a day, train them to be customer-focused and hope they will remember it five years later. Once an employee goes through the initial training, there must be (much) shorter training sessions, even just a few minutes in a weekly or monthly meeting, to reinforce and remind everyone what they need to do.

The second area in which many companies fall short with their customer-focus training is that they only train customer-facing employees, typically people in sales and customer support. As already mentioned, an organization must go deep with its training. Everyone must be trained. Of course, customer support agents’ training will be far different than that for employees in the warehouse. The point is everyone must know how they support the customer’s experience. For example, employees in the warehouse may never need front-line customer support skills, but they must understand that if they improperly pack a product that’s shipped to a customer and the product is damaged en route, that falls on them. They become a significant part of the customer’s experience, yet they never have any customer interaction. The point is that everyone must be trained to the initiative, not just people who interact with customers.

If you focus on the first three steps of the process—creating your mantra, diligently communicating it and properly training all employees—you’re on your way to becoming an aligned organization without the breakdowns of some companies and brands that are set in their old ways.

One final thought on this process. When people and departments—or the entire company—are meeting your customer service and experience goals, let them know. Celebrate successes, share stories and let people know they are doing a good job. Good behavior and success that are recognized beget more of the same!

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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