The ways in which most businesses now operate and interact with customers is drastically different from what they were a few years ago. For example, customers can research their options, learn about other brands, and make purchases all from the comfort of their own homes. And though this has meant a lot of change and adjustment for businesses, many of those changes have been for the better. This is because digital transformation and customer experience influence each other.

In any profession, success comes to those who are constantly evolving, staying updated on current trends and learning best practices. We often look to leaders and industry experts to show us the way forward whenever there’s a roadblock, and if your work profile is dependent on keeping up with evolving customer trends and expectations, you need ongoing guidance.

When it comes to customer service metrics and call center KPIs that measure team efficiency, no metric does a better job than average handle time (AHT). A high average handle time signals critical red flags that need to be attended to immediately. This includes warnings about process inefficiencies, the quality of the training you offer, the ease of access to information and resources, and more. So it’s essential to monitor your average handle time, at all times, to make sure it stays low.

If you’re looking for an upward career movement in customer service, you need to be prepared to deal with difficult situations from day one. Be it face-to-face, over phone, email or even chat, whenever something goes wrong, a customer service manager will be the first point of contact for customer support agents trying to solve uncommon or complicated customer problems.

Customers want to feel understood and heard, and this requires empathy. People with strong empathic abilities are better at establishing long-term customer relationships. But the problem is empathy can be a difficult skill to teach. Since it’s an emotional subject, it can be challenging to find hands-on learning activities, and you don’t want training to feel too forced or heavy-handed.

With customer experience becoming more important than ever, interactive customer experience conferences are the need of the hour. Whether it’s a virtual experience, in-person event or a hybrid summit, companies are reimagining customer journeys to reduce friction, accelerating the shift to digital channels, and providing for new safety requirements. With the ongoing global crisis, many organizers have switched to hybrid and virtual conferences.

Conducting an impactful customer service performance review sets the stage not just for the evaluation and growth of your team members but can also identify larger trends within your support strategy. However, many pieces make up an individual’s customer support career development, and it can get difficult to track them regularly. You’ve got performance metrics to pay attention to, career growth, and paths of interest for your customer service representatives.

Imagine opening your Netflix account and seeing four independent Turkish television shows, an advertisement for a German horror movie, and three movies you’ve already seen, but didn’t really like. Not very helpful, right? Fortunately, Netflix has customized their product to offer personalized recommendations in a way that will please their users, and keep them coming back for more.

As CX speaker Zig Ziglar once said: “If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.” When you consider that just a 5% increase in customer retention can boost your profits by as much as 95%, the rewards for gaining and maintaining customer trust are massive. A few extra seconds of effort is all it takes to make a customer’s day.