Customer Service is More Important Than Ever in 2024

No matter how good your product or service is, you need to offer exceptional customer service to retain customers. More companies are expected to provide 24/7 support, multiple customer touch points, self-service tools, etc. It should be easier for customers to access quality support.

According to Gartner, over ​​80% of businesses expect to compete mainly based on the customer experience. It’s important to employ competent support staff and invest in tools such as customer service software. In this article, we’ll discuss customer service statistics and expectations.

Latest customer service/customer experience statistics

Customer service is evolving as customers demand better experience and businesses are required to put more effort. Here are some customer experience statistics for context:

• 68% of customers are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer service experiences.
• 90% of customers would likely spend more when companies provide personalized customer service.
• 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases from companies who offer excellent customer services.
• 77% of customers say that they recommend a brand to a friend after a single positive experience.
• 83% of customers say that they feel more loyal to brands that respond and resolve their complaints
• 33% of customers are frustrated by having to wait on hold and 33% are also frustrated by having to repeat the same issue to multiple support agents.
• 62% of customers would typically share their bad customer service experiences with others.
• 96% of customers would abandon a company if they had a bad customer service experience.
• 65% of customers said that a bad customer service experience made them go to a competitor brand.
• 73% of consumers will not hesitate to ghost a brand after about three bad service experiences

Also Read : How Marketers Can Keep Personalization From Falling Apart

These stats help to show that good customer experience is necessary for customer loyalty and retention. Many customers are likely to stop buying from a company after a bad service experience. They would also complain to their friends, family, and colleagues about the bad experience.

Some customer service expectations

Small and large businesses should know and try to meet the growing customer service expectations. Below are some of these expectations:

• 90% of customers consider an “immediate” response as crucial to a good CX, whereby 60% of them define “immediate” as under 10 minutes.
• Personalization helps to influence customer buying behavior as it makes them more likely to purchase, recommend to others, and also repurchase.
• 81% of all customers would attempt to take care of issues themselves before reaching out to a live representative – across industries.
• 40% of customers prefer to speak to real support agents when trying to resolve complicated issues
• 91% of customers would use a knowledge base if it were carefully prepared to meet their needs.
• 90% of customers expect brands to have an online self-service customer support portal.
• When customers put in less effort, they often have a 96% satisfaction rate and are likely to be loyal.
• 80% of customers expect live chat, AI chatbots and other AI-based tools to improve experiences.
• 35% of customers want to be able to reach out to the same customer support agent on any channel.
• Strong omnichannel customer engagement retains over 89% of their customers but weak omnichannel customer engagement retains only 33%.
• More customers want to be heard and understood and for customer service agents to be empathetic.
• 85% of customers will want to give feedback after a good experience and 81% will give feedback after a bad service experience with the company.

These stats indicate that customers want their problems resolved quickly and they want to contact brands using multiple communication channels. They want companies to personalize their services, collect their feedback after every support interaction and work to improve the service.

Why automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will become a bigger trend in customer service in 2024?

As customer service expectations are growing, companies can benefit from using AI and automation in their software. For example, customer service software contains a set of tools that customers can use to manage and enhance the customer experience. The features typically include helpdesk ticketing system, Generative AI, 360-degree dashboard, AI-powered help center, analytics and reporting, and much more. Let’s see how an AI customer service platform can help to meet customer expectations.

1. Personalization

In the world of advertising, personalized ads have helped to attract and convert customers over the years. Now it’s becoming a trend for companies to provide personalized customer service. You can use automated data collection and AI-driven algorithms to gather, interpret, and analyze customer data. This allows businesses to provide highly personalized customer support experiences in real-time.

2. Efficiency

Rapid response times and faster resolution times are one of the most important customer service expectations. This means that companies need to streamline these internal processes and reduce the workload on support agents. You should use customer service apps with AI-powered tools to optimize response workflows. Automation tools can also identify patterns and address potential issues.

3. Automation

Customer service representatives are prone to burnout and being frustrated due to heavy workload. You need a customer support platform with an automated ticketing system, AI chatbots, virtual assistants, and generative AI. They help to reduce repetitive tasks, answer simple and most common queries, and draft communication materials.

They free up time so agents can focus on complex issues.

Conclusion

If you’re keen on providing excellent customer service, you have to understand the latest customer service statistics and expectations. They can serve as pointers on what needs to be fixed in your customer service function. There are also software automation tools that can help to simplify the whole process and meet service expectations easily.