Written by Chris West

Customer service over the years has been progressing in leaps and bounds, customers expect better service, self-service is growing, AI is slowly improving, more people like messaging, and more and more consumers use mobiles to purchase products and services.

These last 2 years have been different. Millions of people have suddenly been forced to work outside of the office, and their companies have had to figure out how to make that happen. That’s an enormous disruption to the rate of change, and it will have a real impact. Here are our predictions for customer service trends in 2022.

1. Customer service and experience will be an increasingly important differentiators
2. Customers will find a replacement provider more easily (Important that you nail the customer service the first time)
3. More people working on mobile devices (How well does your website work on a phone?)
4. Customers will demand more flexibility
5. Outsourcing will grow to manage unpredictable spikes throughout the year such as Black Friday and Christmas periods
6. Supply chain disruptions will continue to create support demands
7. Retaining customer service staff will be harder, this will mostly be down to flexibility and monetary offering from competitors in the market
8. Video as a support tool will become more common - People who are comfortable with the technology and have the right setup at home will be more interested in screen sharing and generally getting help over video
9. Some customers will be more willing to self-serve – We’ve seen a massive shift in retail businesses using self-scan systems for making the checkout process easier/quicker for consumers
10. The shift to messaging and real-time channels may accelerate – We are already seeing this more and more with companies online

Companies will need to compete on how they offer those services to consumers. Adopting a people-centred approach, ensuring and understanding the needs of both consumers and customer-facing staff will allow companies to be competitive in this volatile market.