This year, they will be more important than ever: We identify the customer service trends for 2019, from direct messages to customer service bots.

Customer service via social media becomes more personal

An increasing number of customers make direct primary contact with companies via various social media channels, for example to ask a question, to complain, or just to say thank you. More than 3 billion people all over the world are active users of various social media channels such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, XING or LinkedIn.

To communicate with companies, today’s customers send direct messages rather than post their complaints or inquiries via public social media pages. According to a Sprinklr survey, 80 percent of customers use online interactions with brands, and 54 percent prefer the direct message function on social media pages for their customer service needs to contact via telephone or email. For this reason, more and more companies enable private messaging for their accounts to allow customers to send them a private message. Customers do not necessarily have to follow the company to use this function. The messages are not restricted to 280 characters, and customers can upload photos, videos and personal data without disclosing them to the whole world.

Customer service bots will continue to penetrate the market

User acceptance for customer service bots is increasing constantly, made possible by technological progress. German users of mobile devices devote about 90 percent of their use time to messengers or email programs. Accordingly, companies must go to these platforms communicate with their customers.

With customer service bots, a company can provide automated answers to customers’ inquiries 24/7. Bots can help with uncomplicated inquiries, for example regarding forgotten passwords or relocation address updates. Usually, all of these questions require similar answers, and the customer expects to get help fast. Used properly, customer service bots increase the company’s sales, reduce support costs, and generate valuable information on customers’ requirements. Another advantage of bot solutions is that they relieve the call center agents’ workload and give them more time to focus on tasks that generate more value. Customer service bots have a huge potential: According to a Juniper report, the operating costs could be reduced by 8 billion Dollar by 2022.

Artificial intelligence increases employee satisfaction

Artificial and human intelligence mutually benefit each other – and make the employees happier. Forrester finds that customer services which use AI are 60 percent more efficient in terms of customer and employee satisfaction. Happy employees are the key to success and customer satisfaction: Supported by artificial intelligence, agents can provide better answers faster, free of frustration or stress.