A lot has changed in the customer service space in the past 20 years. Few businesses use to pay attention to the quality of their customer service. They spent more time and resources on things that could bring them revenue.

Businesses also didn’t pay much attention to the hassle customers had to go through to report a problem or get an inquiry resolved. Waiting for hours on end for representatives to answer customer queries was the normal.

There was no access to online chat with customer care, let alone any kind of self-service resolution capabilities. Some of you reading this may not even be aware of that reality, because you were born after the digital revolution started.

Today, with the availability of a range of options to most customers by means of the internet, poor customer service is one of the biggest concerns for big companies and enterprises.

Customers are demanding more and better service online and offline in exchange for their loyalty. That means that businesses in the 21st century have to step up their game if they want to stay competitive.

The customer service sector is no longer limited to telephone conversations and answering machines. Now, the customer service industry is focused on innovation. Modern ways and processes are being embraced. Even the term customer service has been replaced with customer success.

Everything Mobile

There is very good reason for the reduction in sales of computers around the world. That is because more and more people are using their mobile phones for shopping and to interact with businesses.

Customer success teams have to become more responsive and alert to the wants and needs and capabilities of consumers on their mobile phones who demand immediate access. Such on demand customer success capacities can be delivered via SMS, or DMs on social media platforms.

Chatbots Everywhere

Chatbots are the ultimate innovation in the field of customer success. When customers want more than just the “human touch”, they frequently look for options that might help them faster than humans can.

Chatbots are becoming a top kind of customer success technology that can greatly reduce the number of contacts human agents have to handle. This also ensures that more humans are freed up to deal with problems that are too complicated for simple chatbots.

According to research, more than 80% of the queries that customers have can be cleared up with the help of chatbots.

Social Media Everywhere

Social media has been used by businesses for marketing and sales for quite a long time. Now, we are fully in the next phase where companies are beginning to use channels for customer success purposes.

Customers have made social media the default way of interacting with their friends and family, along with work colleagues and others. It makes sense for businesses to join the social circle of customers to resolve their queries efficiently.

There are a number of agencies that provide customer success on social media. They can be employed to save capital and the hassle of looking for more reps.

Everything Better with Video

Video chats in the post-pandemic world are being used by everybody. Technologies like Skype, Zoom, and Duo have become a daily part of our lives.

Because customers have become more comfortable with interactions over video chat, businesses should endeavor to launch themselves into this space as well.

Video guidance for customers over video tends to have effects that cannot be attained over other mediums.

Video simulates the actual presence of humans for the convenience of the customers. As a result, video makes customers feel that they are cared for by the company and feel valued.

These innovations in customer success have become prevalent in recent times. More and more businesses are getting focused on improving their customer relations, often hiring dedicated personnel to handle that area for them.

Customer success is becoming so important that there are dedicated agencies popping up offering businesses a steady hand to deal with the queries and questions of customers.

This change is for the better. With the advent and rising popularity of online shopping and telephonic marketing, customers are becoming more aware about the kind of businesses they are interacting with. A few words of appreciation and prompt replies to their emails goes a long way in securing their loyalty.

Innovation in customer success takes on a more systematic approach to delighting customers. It breaks down internal barriers and encourages more transparency.

“Innovation in customer success is about letting the customer lead you into tomorrow.”

When it comes to customer success innovation it’s important to highlight that it isn’t about adopting a single strategy. Today’s consumer lives online across multiple mediums.

The companies who will outshine others in their efforts of enabling effective customer success strategies will meet the customers where they live and play.

This will require a shift in thinking from setting up capabilities to take in requests from customers, to setting up proactive outreach programs that anticipate needs.

With the advent of technologies such AI coupled with the mentioned tactics in this blog, there really are no excuses when it comes to developing and executing an effective customer success plan.

“Innovation is born out of people’s creativity coupled with technology that enhances connection and service standards.”

Companies who are balancing both people’s creativity and emerging technologies will win the race to delighting the customer.