Globally, the cost of living is skyrocketing – in the US, inflation hovers near a 40-year high, topping Americans’ concerns for the country, while Canada’s official inflation rate rose at a 6.8% annual pace this past April, a new 31-year high. Prices for everyday necessities – food, shelter and gas – are on the rise, as the COVID-19 pandemic is driving up the costs of raw materials and impacting global supply chains.
Customer support vs customer success – two terms that have been seen as the same function in some companies, while also operating as completely separate groups within others. While customer support is key to solving customer problems and producing great experiences, customer success is responsible for empowering customers, keeping them happy on your platform/ through your services, and bringing them back for more.
The results are in. Customer service is a major driver of a company’s sales and revenue potential. About 70% of a customer’s journey is based on how well they’re being treated. If you're running a growing company, you can't afford to continue utilizing manual customer relations like speaking on the phone or through a chat portal. With customer service management, you can invigorate the growth of your company by improving the way your customers interact with you.
As Kelly Uhlrich, Vice President and General Manager of CX company Humach, explains, “the proper focus and investment of time and budget requires a more strategic approach. It’s not a marketing problem or a technology initiative.” Authentic customer-focused culture is far more exhaustive than just researching your customer experience or observing a segment of your market.
Customer service has grown to become a critical function across industries including airlines, software companies, retail, and even real estate companies. Because of this, a career in customer service is growing in popularity, while companies and individual employers continue to struggle with scaling their support teams as their business grows.
The value of exceptional customer service is undeniable. People will stay loyal to companies that provide incredible customer service. If you’re running a growing organization, the first thing that needs to be evaluated is your customer service model. This is where customer service management (CSM) platforms come into play. These helpful solutions allow companies to use workflows to streamline operations, improve customer satisfaction, and boost brand loyalty.
Customer service is notoriously a waiting game. This has been more rampant in recent years, with a stretched labor pool and staff shortages across numerous industries. Canada’s federal government has warned of long wait times for passports, due to the surge in the number of applications since COVID-19 border measures were relaxed (the number of Canadians applying for passports is 40 times higher than it was pre-pandemic).
Human brains are wired to process images 60,000 times faster than text. The age-old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” is apparently severely undershooting it. Not only that, but an image has the ability to instantly traverse cultural and lingual barriers. Heard of the painting The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh?
It’s time to talk travel. This fondly remembered hobby is now on the minds of many, after being pent up due to COVID-19 restrictions. Demand for flights is soaring – Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian reported that March 2022 had been the carrier’s best month for sales in its history, while the four major U.S. airlines (American Airlines, Delta, Southwest and United) are planning summer schedules that are 4% to 20% larger than one year ago.
