Customer Support Trends to Watch for in 2021

The phrase “new normal” is widely used to describe the time we live in, but this phrase also accurately defines the changing landscape of customer service. This includes more customer support representatives answering calls from home as companies still cannot bring back their workforce in full capacity. Despite all of these complications, customer expectations have only increased and the customer support landscape, in general, is changing as well. Let’s take a look at some major trends that are driving changes in customer support. 

Customers Demand a Higher Quality of Support 

We mentioned that customer expectations of the support they get has increased during the pandemic, but the latest research shows that 80% of consumers expect better customer support. Also, since online shopping has increased as well, companies need to increase their online presence as well. This includes having customer support agents available for assistance via online chat and answering inquiries submitted through social media. Companies try to take some of the burdens off their employees by using a chatbot, however, a lot of people still prefer speaking with a human to resolve any issues and the chatbots still have a lot of difficulty handling more complicated inquiries. 

Another solution more and more companies have been utilizing is hiring offshore customer support representatives. This could range from one or two employees to augment the in-house team you already have all the way to setting up entire dedicated support teams to manage all support channels and time zones. This is a great solution since you are able to hire qualified customer support professionals at a fraction of the cost of hiring such people locally. Mindy Support has helped many companies increase the level of customer support and expand their service offering as well. We can quickly assemble a team for you that will cover multiple time zones and languages. 

Younger Age Groups Value Empathy More Than Others

The ongoing health and economic crises have taken a mental and financial toll on everybody. In fact, one in three adults in the US have expressed increased anxiety, stress, or sadness this year and they expect customer support representatives to be understanding of that. Younger consumers, especially the Generation Z age group, value empathy more than millennials and baby boomers. According to research by Hiver, 14% of millennials responded that empathy is important to them, while only 11% of millennials and 6% of baby boomers responded in the same way. What this research shows is that younger generations have higher expectations and want more personalized experiences when it comes to customer support today. 

In order to adjust to this growing trend, support teams must be able to see a particular issue through the eyes of the customer. This includes asking the right questions, being prepared to properly respond to complaints, and having the patience to let the customer vent their frustrations. In order to provide such exemplary customer support, companies need to provide their team members with the necessary training and mentorship which is very difficult nowadays when everybody is working from a different location. At Mindy Support, we have extensive training and QA processes in place to make sure that we are providing the best service possible and that we are placing ourselves in the customers’ shoes. This allows us to provide holistic customer success, satisfaction and retention. 

Customers Hate Explaining Themselves Over and Over Again

We all had the unpleasant experience of being transferred from one customer support representative to another and having to explain the same problem over and over again. This was one of the biggest issues bothering consumers this year with 50% of customers responding that this is one of the most annoying things about customer support. 

There are many reasons why this problem is so prevalent. First of all, this is part of the problem with the training we talked about earlier. Also, there is not a coordinated issues escalation plan in place. If the representative handling general inquiries, or L1 questions, cannot resolve a particular issue, they need to know to whom they can transfer this call for speedy resolution. 

Without such a plan, customer calls will continue to be bounced around from one representative to another to the point where the customer will be angry and exasperated. Make sure to resolve such issues inside your company, if you experienced such problems this year. 

Trust Mindy Support With All of Your Customer Support Needs

Whether you are looking to extend your current support team or set a new one, Mindy Support can source and recruit qualified candidates to meet your needs. We are one of the largest BPO providers in Eastern Europe with more than 2,000 employees in six locations all over Ukraine. Our long track record of successfully actualizing customer support projects of various sizes and complexities has earned us the trust of businesses of all sizes including GAFAM and Fortune 500 companies.