Consider customer service trends 2024 and turn customer service into a future-proof revenue driver

You have probably already asked a company a question about a product and only received a less than satisfactory answer or no answer at all. There's a good chance that you've subsequently made the purchase elsewhere.

A Deloitte consumer study conducted for the year 2022 suggests that prospective customers are increasingly likely to switch providers if they do not see their support expectations met. On the other hand, people are even prepared to spend more money on offers that they would get cheaper elsewhere with less good service if they receive optimal support.

The new smartphone won't establish a Wi-Fi connection, the delivery of office supplies is taking an unusually long time - or maybe you just want to know whether a stylish sweater will soon be available again in your favorite color. You and most other potential buyers want all of these and other concerns to be dealt with quickly, easily and personally.

If you are not only a buyer, but also a seller or responsible for customer service in a company, this may mean that you need to take action. How can our support meet customer needs? What is expected in terms of customer service trends today? And how can I ensure future-proof customer service? You'll get the right answers here!

So much already at this point: If you do everything right, your customer service will not only become an essential cornerstone of your customer experience, but will also act as a significant sales driver!

What is customer service?

The core objective of customer service or support is to provide buyers or interested parties with the most comprehensive support possible. This type of assistance can have various focal points. Above all, it is about processing and solving customer questions or problems. This generally takes place as part of purchasing advice or relates to the use, care or repair of purchased products.

Today, such processes do not only take place via direct contact between employees of the respective company and (potential) buyers. Knowledge databases in which interested parties can independently search for the information they need well in advance of a potential purchase, or chatbots that automatically provide prompt and reliable answers around the clock, are no longer special trends in customer service, but have long since become standard practice.

What is customer service for?

Support is an important link between companies and (potential) buyers on their customer journey. Ideally, customer service makes a decisive contribution to a positive customer experience. In companies that do their job really well and make full use of the possibilities of optimal customer support, it is generally about much more than "just" answering questions quickly and accurately.

In fact, support is ideally suited to building or strengthening relationships with prospective and existing customers. The more comfortable these people feel and the more they see their interests or needs taken into account, the better their experience with the respective company will be. Appreciation, empathy, personal contact, knowledge of the issues in question, expertise and confidence are key to promoting precisely these effects.

The more positive the experience, the greater the likelihood that interested parties will become buyers: This correlation needs no statistical underpinning. What's more, people are logically more likely to make repeat purchases from a company if they have an all-round positive experience than if there were problems at any point. This applies to both the B2B and B2C customer journey. Good support therefore makes a major contribution to increasing sales.

What types of customer service are there?

Today, support can be provided in numerous ways. At the very base, there is a distinction between on-site customer service (at the point of sale) and customer support via (mostly) digital media such as email, chat, messenger or telephone.

In line with today's service trends and the associated customer expectations, support should always be offered via various channels to achieve optimum results. The keyword here is "omnichannel support" (more on this below). Corresponding structures can be organized very efficiently via helpdesk ticket systems and other support software.

Here are the most common types of support at a glance:

• Point-of-sale
• Telephone
• (Video) chat or chatbot
• Social media
• Messenger like WhatsApp
• Self-service tools or knowledge databases

When should customer service be introduced?

Adequately equipped support is essential for any company that has various and changing end customers with a large turnover - both in the B2C and B2B sectors.

There are always questions, problems and other concerns in connection with the goods or services offered that can only be solved by experts from the respective provider company. Those seeking help should receive comprehensive support here.

Subcontractors who work with the same partners without exception, on the other hand, do not necessarily need a designated customer service team. Nevertheless, the responsible contact persons should look at the customer service trends of 2023/2024 and take them into account in order to process inquiries in a timely manner.

Which new customer service trends will be relevant in 2024?

The following three trends for 2024 are harbingers of the customer service of the future. Customer interactions will become more seamless, AI will play an increasingly important role and teams will continue to merge.

Conversational experiences

Conversational experiences are customer interactions that take place seamlessly across various channels. This enables interested parties and buyers to make, end and flexibly resume inquiries at any time. A strong and centralized software architecture for support is essential for this.

Customer service employees must be able to access all conversations in one place and provide answers via all available support channels. Dialogue-oriented tools that are placed at all relevant points of the customer journey provide the technological basis. At the same time, support staff need to be introduced to new ways of working. Ideally, (potential) customers will receive a seamless customer service experience.

Enhanced AI experiences in customer service

AI-based technologies have long since arrived in business. Support also benefits from corresponding solutions, for example in the form of chatbots, intelligent knowledge management platforms and self-service, as well as specific analytics.

At the same time, customers expect the relevant technologies to continue to develop: Many have recognized the potential of artificial intelligence, which means that it is increasingly assumed that such service interactions will become more powerful and eventually perform at a similar level to human support.

Merging teams

The customer service of the future will need more and more knowledge in order to meet the expectations of (potential) buyers appropriately. Relevant facts or data must be brought together quickly and easily from various sources and interpreted just as promptly.

It is therefore important to bring teams ever closer together. In addition to a solid technological foundation in the form of specific software, the right mindset is absolutely crucial here. Various surveys (including the CX Trends Report 2023 by Zendesk) suggest that well over 50 percent of managers would like to merge service-related departments significantly more in 2024.

Which service trends were relevant in 2023 and will still be important next year?

As you have probably already noticed, completely new customer service trends are unlikely to emerge. The conversational experiences, AI and merging teams mentioned above have been very popular for some time. However, they will probably reach a peak in 2024.

The customer service trends from 2023 that will remain highly relevant in the coming year are summarized below.

Increasing investment in digital customer service

Investment in digital solutions has risen sharply in parallel with increasing digitalization. In response, companies have been investing more time and resources in the digital improvement of the customer experience for years.

On average, more budget was available in 2023 than ever before for special customer service tools, the analysis of customer data, support automation, self-services, customer service agility, digital channels, data security and similar topics. In 2024, there will probably be no regression here.

More personalized experiences

When (potential) customers contact support, they expect precise, fast and personalized assistance. They don't just want to be a number, they want to be perceived as real people.

In 2023, companies increasingly responded to these requirements. Efficient data organization, specific training and recording the customer journey of their own customers were just some of the measures that more and more managers were taking in this regard. This trend is sure to continue in 2024.

Omnichannel support

In 2023, customers almost always used multiple channels (sometimes even simultaneously) for inquiries and ultimately purchases - from email and telephone to social media and live chats, in-app messages and messengers.

This was and is accompanied by a symbiosis that brings support, purchases and all available channels ever closer together in the minds of buyers. Companies should therefore never rely on just one single support or sales system. Omnichannel will remain highly relevant in 2024.

More automation

The predominant trend in 2023 was to integrate more powerful chatbots into customer service. Today, good bots are already intelligent enough to process most inquiries from prospective customers or customers in an appropriate manner. If the AI no longer has the right answers at hand, the service employees step in.

Many companies have been able to save considerable costs by combining bots and real support agents. The teams became smaller and also had more time to deal with complex or particularly business-critical issues. There was also more scope for communication within departments and thus for the important exchange of data and the feedback and product development cycle.

The likely rapid advancement of AI support and targeted team mergers for 2024 are practically a result of this "old" customer service trend from 2023.

Why is customer service so important?

Providing good support is particularly important because prospects and customers today expect to receive fast, comprehensive and personalized support.

The high relevance is particularly clear from the following figures from two major surveys:

• Deloitte Customer Service Survey 2022: for the clear majority of respondents in the study (around 85%), support plays a decisive role - across all industries and in all age groups. All-round advantageous customer service is therefore an extremely important criterion for many people when choosing a provider.

• PwC Future of CX: According to the Future of CX study conducted by PwC, which surveyed more than 15,000 people, for one in three customers, a single unpleasant experience with support is reason enough to stop buying from the brand in question (even if they actually like the brand). As many as 92 percent stated that they would no longer make a purchase from a company after two or three unpleasant interactions.

Numerous other studies have come to similar conclusions.

Which tools are suitable for customer service?

As already mentioned in several places, technical tools - especially specific software - are important and often even indispensable in order to adequately meet today's support requirements and the latest customer service trends.

In a check of the categories "Helpdesk" and "Customer Service" categories at OMR Reviews, you will find many suitable programs. Very good solutions are:

• Intercom
• Freshdesk
• SAP CRM
• Jira Service Management
• Helpscout
• Gorgias
• Hubspot Service Hub
• HelpSpace

To get a better overview of the jungle of support software, we also recommend taking a look at the article "Servicedesk or Helpdesk" by Carolin Puls.

Conclusion

Offering good support that addresses current customer service trends is practically indispensable for most companies today. Questions, problems or other concerns can arise with virtually any type of product. Dealing with these appropriately - i.e. quickly, precisely, personally and generally in line with customer expectations - will at best lead to a significant and future-proof increase in sales. The crux of the matter is that as technology continues to develop, customers will gradually adapt to new support options and sooner or later expect them as standard. Under these circumstances, companies and their managers had better not miss out on any service trends.