5 Trends for the Future of CX

Each year, our tentpole CX event, Gladly Connect Live, features some of the most prominent and intelligent voices in the world of customer service. This year was no different, as best-selling author and CX expert Blake Morgan took the stage and discussed her predictions for the future of customer experience.

Morgan identified the trends that will challenge the typical customer experience to become leaner and more efficient. Here are the five biggest trends she forecasts will impact brands in the coming years.

1. Automation and Self-Service Ease Staffing Issues

Automation will be particularly impactful on CX, especially as exciting new technologies like ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence platforms enter the conversation. These tools have the potential to ease and counterbalance staffing shortages while providing more autonomy to shoppers through self-service.

When agents have support from tools that free up their time for more important work, they’re less likely to burn out. As Morgan suggests, “If you think about this excuse of, ‘we can’t find staff, we can’t staff up,’ is it because of quiet quitting or because we’re mismanaging our most important staff?” The use of customer service automation should be a mechanism for making staff’s lives easier.

Gladly pro tip: Our Customer Expectations Report shows that shoppers want the ability to transition between a chatbot and an agent seamlessly. Find a support solution that interconnects customer service experiences so both customers and agents have no issue traversing between bots and humans, making everyone’s lives easier throughout the process. See how Gladly unites all aspects of a conversation, channel-agnostic, into a single-view timeline.

2. Every Experience Matters During Inflation

In times of economic stress, weakened purchasing power places a greater burden on customer service teams who are expected to provide loyalty-driving experiences. “Customers are stressed about money… [and] when they do spend money with your brand, every day is game day,” Morgan says. “They’re expecting a good customer experience.”

Gladly pro tip: Ensure your agents have the ability to make every customer experience a successful one, focusing on personal touches and empathetic communication to prevent any missed communications or loss of trust during this vital moment. Start implementing radical personalization using these handy empathy exercises.

3. Widespread Immersive Experiences

Modern brands need to explore ways to keep customers interested, so shoppers feel like they’re truly invested in the full experience, not just the transaction. “We’re looking at a world of widespread immersive experiences, like Nike that has invested in the Metaverse, and 7 million customers have visited [that space],” Morgan says.

Gladly pro tip: The future of CX will be defined by the brands that can move into the latest and most exciting channels the fastest — a la Nike and their explosive success in the Metaverse. Make sure your agents can provide a consistent, universal approach across channels, investing in technology that scales for new channels and is also easy for agents to master. Gladly offers some of the most comprehensive, easy-to-use implementations to ensure that agents can master your support system immediately, no matter the channels you expand into.

4. Phygital

Your customer experience should be seamless across both physical and digital channels, making each customer feel like they have consistently positive interactions, no matter their method of communication. “Phygital is here now, and it’s about thinking about this zero-friction, seamless customer experience no matter if they’re in your app, [on] your website, or [in] your retail store,” Morgan says.

Gladly pro tip: Alongside the rise of immersive experiences, phygital and similar cross-channel presences will be key. Gladly offers an omnichannel presence that ensures comprehensive coverage of the experience, preventing your customer service from getting lost in translation across all support channels — no matter how a customer reaches out.

5. Working Within Modern CX Budgets

CX leaders need to maximize the value of their customer service department without blowing through their budgets. As Morgan highlights, “Customer service teams are asked to do more with less. How many of you are asked to do more with less where your colleagues have been laid off and no one’s been hired? A lot of you.” Therefore, brands need to invest in scalable tech, training, and solutions that provide them with a higher ROI than outdated methodologies.

Gladly pro tip: Seek out a pay structure that’s inherently scalable, so you can avoid complex fees and models that come with your accelerated growth. Also, be wary of platforms that base pricing on ticketing. Why? When your business scales, so will your ticket volume. This creates an ongoing cycle of more customers and more support tickets. Gladly is a customer-centric platform that doesn’t use or charge clients for tickets. Instead, Gladly charges by the agent, providing your company with the entirety of our tech solutions regardless of the size of your business.

[Learn more: Gladly Pricing]

Is Your Brand Ready for the Future of CX?

Customer experience will continue to evolve alongside new technological and economic changes, but solutions like Gladly can help you keep pace with the latest trends, even as the world changes around you.

For more insights from Blake Morgan, watch the full webinar on the future of CX.

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