Customer service delivery is evolving at an accelerated pace, as are the emerging service channels that are driving the push for an agile, real-time, multi-channel customer experience. Here are seven customer service predictions from industry experts that speak to the near future of online customer service:
1. By 2014, refusing to communicate with customers via social media will be as harmful as ignoring emails or phone calls is today. – Gartner Predicts 2012: The Rising Force of Social Networking and Collaboration Services
2. Social media will become the #2 customer interaction method in the next three to five years. – IBM 2012 Global CEO Study
3. Through 2015, 80 percent of multichannel implementations will fail because retailers will retain channel and product-centric strategies. – Garter Top Industry Predicts 2012: Industries Face intensified Consumerization and Technology Disruption
4. The number of U.S. mobile web users will grow annually by a compound rate of 16.6% between 2010 and 2015. More people in the United States will access the web via mobile devices than via wireline computers by 2015. – IDC’s Worldwide New Media Market Model (NMMM) Forecast
5. The number of mobile social network users in the U.S. will grow from 58.5% in 2012 to 79.1% by 2015. – U.S. Mobile Social Network Users Expected to Double by 2015 – eMarketer
6. By 2016, more than half of the dollars spent in U.S. retail will be influenced by the web. – Forrester U.S. Cross-channel Retail Forecast, 2011 – 2016
7. By 2015, the marketing budget allocated to retaining customers and increasing loyalty through customer service will more than double. – Gartner Predicts 2012: CRM Customer Service and Support Staggers into the Posthuman Age
