[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/#Article","articleBody":"Need more incentive to improve your service experience? New research shows that 80% of customers say they\u2019ve switched brands due to poor CX. And poor customer service experiences are what drove the most of them to switch.\nBrands already know that customer experience is a top priority. But CX is broad, encompassing every aspect of a customer\u2019s journey. Between changing customer expectations, COVID regulations, ongoing labor shortages, and supply chain issues, it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts.\nConventional wisdom tells us to focus on the one area where we can make the biggest impact. And based on current trends, that\u2019s the customer service experience.\nPost-pandemic, customers are losing patience with poor service\nIn 2020, when COVID-19 turned the world on its head, people tended to extend a lot of patience and empathy to each other\u2014businesses and consumers alike. We were in uncharted territory, and we all understood that no one was unaffected.\nThat was almost two years ago now. And while we\u2019re still in the throes of uncertainty, people have learned to adapt. And many feel that businesses have failed to do the same.\nTrends show that most people think customer service has gotten worse during the pandemic. In fact, more than half of Millennials and Gen Zers polled last year said they\u2019d rather get their teeth cleaned than deal with customer service.\n \nCOVID killed the back office: 2022 commerce trends show CX needs a reboot\n   2022 commerce and e-commerce trends revolve around tech stacks, customer data, customer service, supply and demand, and overall CX.  \nIf you want to keep customers (and ideally, attract new ones), then you need to improve your service experience. Here\u2019s how.\n3 ways to improve your service experience\nIdentify and address key problem areas\nEquip and empower your service agents\nShift from just resolving issues to adding value\nIdentify and address key problem areas\nFirst thing\u2019s first: figure out where your service experience is suffering. Chances are it won\u2019t be too hard to find\u2014consumers are prone to sharing when they have a bad experience. But 63% of them think companies need to get better at listening to their feedback.\nDig through your customer service data to uncover insights. Monitor social media chatter. But don\u2019t just stick to your own channels. Check out third-party resources such as online forums, where customers may be seeking answers.\nBetter yet: run through the customer experience journey yourself, as a customer. Notice where the journey gets disrupted and issues arise. Then, make a plan to address it.\nFor example, one of the most common service issues customers complain about is long hold times. And nearly 50% of people think that \u201cunusually high call volume\u201d recordings are lies. (Spoiler alert: if your call volume is always \u201chigher than usual,\u201d it\u2019s no longer unusual).\nInvest in bots and smart voice solutions to help alleviate staffing shortages. Offer call-back options to shorten the queue. Beef up your self-service offerings to help people get answers to common questions. Do what you can to take action and address the pain point.\n(Bonus points for improving the on-hold experience! Update your music, play it at a reasonable volume, and avoid the temptation of playing frequent ads that make customers think their call\u2019s being answered.)\n \nCall center customer service: How to provide great customer service\n   92% of consumers will leave a brand over bad customer service. Call centers can help boost customer service and CX.  \nEquip and empower your service agents\nFew things are more frustrating to a customer who finally gets through to a customer service agent than realizing the agent can\u2019t help them.\nA colleague of mine, after months of struggling with their business software, finally connected with someone at the company who was able to quickly and easily resolve her issues. She thanked him and asked if she could reach out to him directly if she had issues in the future. He had to decline, saying he\u2019s a more senior team leader, and was only answering calls due to another issue that had his staff maxed out.\nIt shouldn\u2019t take senior leadership to get issues resolved. Do whatever you can to empower your service agents to handle customer calls and resolve issues, without having to transfer them to someone else.\nNot only will this alleviate customer frustrations, it will also improve the service agent experience. Dealing with angry customers day in and day out takes a toll on your employees. Empowering them with things like cross-channel customer information can improve their overall experience. And that may help you attract and retain high-quality talent.\n \nHow to improve employee well-being: Humanity enters the workplace\n   By making wellness a priority and leading with compassion, modern HR leaders are improving employee well-being and boosting morale.  \nShift from just resolving issues to adding value\n\u201cGreat service experiences may stem attrition, but only \u2018value enhancing\u2019 service experiences drive retention and growth,\u201d Gartner researchers said in a recent study.\nTo really improve your service experience, you may need to rethink how you define customer service. Remember that it\u2019s part of the larger customer experience. And your ultimate goal is to improve customers\u2019 entire experience with your brand.\nAccording to Gartner: \u201cOrganizations should focus less on the marginal improvements to the quality of the customer service experience itself and more on how service interactions can help customers derive the most value from the product or service offering.\u201d\nYes, this is a post about the importance of improving your service experience. And sure, this may sound contradictory. But I don\u2019t think it is.\nConsumers reach out to service organizations mostly because they need issues resolved. That needs to be Priority No. 1. But if you\u2019re able to go beyond that and help them get more out of your products or services, either by anticipating needs, showing them how to use features that will help them, or show them how they can save money \u2013 you may win a customer for life. Take, for example, this video about Lego\u2019s approach to their in-store experience:\n@aqildhanani #stitch with @princessannafit #greenscreen \u266c original sound \u2013 a q i l \u00f0 a n a n i\nWhile not specifically customer service-focused, it shows how shifting the in-store focus to improving the brand experience (rather than just making sales) can have a big impact.\n \nCustomer service trends 2022: Service becomes savior\n   Customer service trends in 2022: More companies will make service a priority to drive growth, customer loyalty, and C-suite strategies.  \nImprove your service experience, improve your customer experience\nIf you can only focus on one strategic area of your business in 2022, make it your customer service experience. Customers will pay more for better experiences, especially when it comes to service and support. But it just takes one bad experience to send them packing.\nDon\u2019t leave your customers in the dark. Light the path to loyalty with great customer service. \ud83d\udca1Discover the ROI\u00a0HERE.\ud83d\udca1","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Emily_Kelly-150x150.jpg"},"name":"Emily Morrow","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/emkmorrow","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emilykmorrow\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/emily-kelly\/"},"dateModified":"2022-01-19T19:56:20+00:00","datePublished":"2022-01-20T06:01:24+00:00","description":"Why improve your service experience? 80% of customers say they\u2019ve switched brands due to poor CX. Here are three ways to fix it.","headline":"How to improve your service experience and bring customers back","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bad-service_1200x375-1200x630.jpg","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/","name":"How to improve your service experience and bring customers back","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/#Article"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2022","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"20","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/01\/\/20\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"How to improve your service experience and bring customers back","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/01\/20\/how-to-improve-your-service-experience\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]