Customer support is a very dynamic field and undergoes changes all the time and there have certainly been some noticeable changes over the past couple of years. One of the biggest reasons for this is the ever-increasing customer expectations and the struggles companies face to keep up. In this article we will tell you some of the recent noticeable changes in customer support so you can get started working on creative solutions to help you adjust.
Customers Demand Customization
The days of the one-size-fits-all approach to customer support are over as customers expect companies to provide personalized assistance to the problems they are experiencing. This includes things like deeper conversations with your representatives. When an agent is speaking with a customer, they need to be willing to take a deep dive into an issue, if necessary, and be willing to curate the solution process. Customers are frustrated with being transferred from one agent to another and then having to re-explain their issue over and over again. The agent needs to be able to take a look at the interaction history and use analytical skills to provide a personalized solution for every scenario.
It is also worth pointing out that the customization includes empathy. Agents must be able to place themselves in the customers’ shoes and try to experience their emotions and acknowledge their feelings. This shows you company’s human side and also tells the customer that they are not just some random person contacting support, put rather an individual with unique needs.
Greater Emphasis on Information Security
News about ransomware and hacking attacks on some of the biggest companies in the world have eroded consumer confidence in businesses being able to secure their personal information. For example, in April 2021, A Facebook data breach exposed over 533 million individuals’ personal information to hackers. This included the user’s name, date of birth, current city, and posts made on their wall. There were many others in recent memory, the most notable one being Equifax data reach in 2017 and the Capital One breach in 2019.
Because of all these incidents, customers may be reluctant to provide you with some of their personal data which may prevent you from completing transactions and losing out on data used to analyze your customers. Therefore, you need to give your customers some assurance that you have taken the necessary precautionary measures. A great way to do this is to be ISO 27001 compliant, which is an international accreditation. There are also many other laws governing the use of customer data such as HIPPA, CCPA, GDPR and many others.
Customers Expect You to Be There Wherever and Whenever
Customers may be experiencing difficulties with your product or service outside your business hours. In fact, they may be browsing your website on the other side of the word and considering whether or not to make a purchase. If they encounter any questions, they would like to get them answered right there and then. This is why you need to provide not only multichannel support, but also 24/7 support. While this may seem very costly, the fact of the matter is that offering such support will pay huge dividends in terms of customer loyalty.
Also, you should keep in mind that offering multichannel, 24/7 and multilingual support is not as costly as you may think. You can hire a dedicated offshore support team and will be able to take on any service requests you may have. You will still retain full control of the process and your offshore team will have the same qualifications as your internal teams.
Trust Pexly to Help You Set Your Offshore Support Teams
Pexly makes it easy for you to set up a dedicated offshore support team by taking care of all the hassles and overhead costs associated with sourcing, recruiting, onboarding and many other time consuming processes. We have extensive experience setting support teams of various sizes and complexities and we are confident that we will be able to set up a team that matches your exact needs. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
