Arnold predicts that as companies continue to expand

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Consumer prices aren’t the only thing rising with inflation. Consumer expectations for customer service are also soaring.

During the pandemic, many in-person services were digitized. Consumers got used to accessing almost everything online whenever, wherever and however they wanted to. This new level of convenience sent their expectations for customer service sky-high.

In one global study, 72 lebanon telegram per cent of consumers said they would likely stop doing business with a company after just one bad customer service experience. So much for second chances! In this digital age, customer experience (CX) is everything.

“Customer experience and customer journey, these are the ways you differentiate your business from the competition,” says Jon Arnold, principal at J Arnold & Associates, an independent technology research and consulting firm based in Toronto.

their digital offerings, consumer demand for better CX will escalate further.

“The digital consumer is way more savvy than the analog consumer, so their expectations are a lot higher now. They want richer experiences, they want personalized experiences, they want mobile, they want social channels,” he says.

To deliver these exceptional experiences through new CX channels, contact centers are adopting the cloud-based technology of contact-center-as-a-service (CCaaS).

New CX channels
Although the phone still reigns supreme among CX channels (51 per cent of consumers say they prefer to interact with contact centers by phone), a global survey suggests new channels are gaining ground, especially among younger people:

while 11% of consumers aged 18 to 29 prefer to engage with contact centers over social media
… only 1% of consumers aged 50+ prefer social media engagement
In the same global survey, younger people are also more likely to use virtual agents or chatbots, an even newer type of CX channel that harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) in the contact center:

although 44% of consumers aged 18-29 use virtual agents and chatbots …
… only 19% of consumers aged 65+ use them
Similarly, young consumers are more willing than seniors to try a video call, yet another new CX channel emerging in the contact center realm:

70% of consumers aged 18-29 are interested in a video call with a contact center …
… but only 33% aged 65+ are willing to try video calls
It’s clear that consumers are embracing new CX channels like texting, social media, chatbots and video calls. Now they want contact centers to increase their own channel offerings for customer service and support. One research team found that contact centers with eight or more channels have significantly better CX ratings than those offering just four channels.