The Evolution of

Customer Service
5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
Objectives :

• To discuss the past to future progression of customer

services.
• To discuss how expectation of speed and automation
have collectively risen.
• To discuss how progression of customer service puts
today’s technology
The Evolution of Customer Service:

• First came the brick and mortar.

- Brick and mortar refers to a traditional street-side
business that offers products and services to
its customers face-to-face in an office or store that the
business owns or rents.
• Until the 1960s, customers had to physically visit a store
to purchase, get help with, or return a product.
• Then came the telephone and the eventual development
of the call center.
The Evolution of Customer Service:

• Shortly thereafter came frustration with call centers,

and demand for more.
• As expectations of speed and automation have
collectively risen, consumers have developed a need for
the new gold standard of customer service now.
• Considering the widespread availability of technology in
this space, companies without an integrated plan for its
evolving use will be facing guaranteed hardships in the
near future.
The Evolution of Customer Service:

According to Forrester, “The Age of the

Customer,” is here, and consumers are
instinctively gravitating toward brands that
meet their elevated customer care needs.
 The Evolution of Customer Service:

• Brands that choose not to optimize their customer

experience will not be able to garner enough revenue to
stay afloat.
• Consumer frustrations with these brands cemented in the
past have only catapulted technologically savvy brands
forward.
• The progression of customer service puts today’s
technology in perspective as it paves a clear road for even
higher expectations in the future.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future

1. Call Center vs. Mobile Messaging

Customer service call centers were necessary back when
consumers were tied to their landlines as their only mode of
communication, and that need has lasted up until the dominance of
mobile messaging. And while consumers still live on their phones,
their preferred form of communication has shifted from making
voice calls to mobile messaging. Considering the top apps in the
world are all messaging apps, brands that ignore messaging features
for customer service and beyond will become obsolete.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
2. Customer Repeating Information vs. Smart Customer Profiles
A call to customer service used to involve keeping track of
paper bills and receipts, documenting with key phrases and
passwords, and setting aside an unpredictable amount of time for
the call.
Most of today’s consumers have only read about dreaded
customer service scenarios like this.
When customers today get to the point where they need or
want to reach out to an agent or customer service automation, it is
only added frustration when the agent or system has no familiarity
with the customer’s relationship to the brand.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
• Moving forward, the company will need to make it easier for the
customer.
• By gathering metrics and feedback from customer service
experiences, companies can build individual customer profiles that
become a living record of that individual’s experience with the
company.
• These profiles generate a personalized experience for each
customer supported by seamless knowledge from every channel.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
3. Customer Finds Content vs Content Finds Customer
• When consumers need help using or fixing a product or service,
they often opt to Google it.
• But sifting through dozens of articles, blogs and videos is just as
time consuming as picking up the phone and contacting a call
center.
• In the future, helpful information will be sent to the consumer
preemptively, just in time to troubleshoot (either directly from
the brand or generated by the product itself.)
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future

Helpshift’s (Customer Service Company) Campaigns for

Proactive Support has been honored for improving customer
service technology.
The Campaigns feature is empowering companies with
the capability to harness powerful data and deliver
proactive, informed and automated customer service
messaging before a problem occurs.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future

4. Full-Service vs. Self-Service

• A shift from full-service to self-service options has added
intrinsic value to the products and services consumers are
buying and using.
• In the past, companies tended to err on the side of over-
indulging the consumer.
• But today’s consumers don’t want meaningless amenities
that are blindly chosen for them, or bundled into a price
they are required to pay.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
The airline industry is a great example.
Passengers now have to pay for added amenities they like, but
they are presented as optional, in a self-service format. While
meals, drinks, pillows and entertainment are no longer included in
their airline ticket price, travelers can check themselves in, choose
their seating, and opt for Wi-Fi, a meal, or inflight entertainment at
an additional cost. With the ability to custom build their own
experiences, travelers feel more in control of their relationships to
the travel industry, aside from those fun, unexpected changes in
itinerary.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
5 .Separating vs. Combining Customer Service and Marketing
• Customer service and marketing were traditionally two separate
departments that were not aligned in their focus or functions.
• Over time, a shift has transpired transforming these two separate
units into a united force who will be even more integrated in the
future.
• Social media, review blogs, and app store reviews are steering
consumers towards and away from brands, putting marketing into
the consumer’s hands through the digital word-of-mouth.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
• User experience that is much in part determined by customer
service departments play a huge role, thus forcing marketing and
customer care together as brand image is becoming increasingly
connected to customer satisfaction.
• The customer service data that is collected gives the marketing
team the ability to learn about their audience.
• They are able to know the customer more intimately and pinpoint
any friction points in the mobile customer experience.
• In turn, this data fuels the creation of customized marketing
efforts as well as seamless customer experiences.
 5 Progressions Spanning Past to Future
• The future of customer service starts today. Companies that aren’t
willing to push forward towards mobile, message-based customer
service with real-time communication and autonomous support
features will have a hard time competing for market-share.
• AI and humanistic bots may not be taking over just yet, but the
technology that they represent is, and staying ahead of the curve
in customer service may make all the difference for the future of
your business.
The End