You can’t predict the future and neither can I but we can evaluate the trends. Using current trends, guessing if they will continue or not, can help in your planning process. A sudden swing in a trend can be both catastrophic or an opportunity. On the other hand, what about a continued trend, is that an opportunity? You decide.
In this blog you’ll find three predictions for 2017.
1) Customer Service Results be stale.
As we’ve seen over the last several years through the lens of the American Customer Service index, customer satisfaction has dropped across he board. With the continued failure of major organizations such as Wells Fargo and Samson in 2016, we’ll continue to see a downward shift. The technology behind customer service of the large organizations continues to age, which is a contributing factor. Combining that with the next three trends, the “chicken or egg” conundrum will continue to perplex companies and stall major shifts to improve customer service.
2) Employee satisfaction results will stay stagnate.
Over the last sixteen years the Gallup Employee Engagement data has shown that the majority of employees are not engaged. With around 70% of employees not engaged or actively disengaged. Does investing in employees improve customer satisfaction or is it the other way around? Along with the same old break fix approach, this type of mindset will stall decisions and prevent investments in 2017. With employee engagement and satisfaction, organizations will continue to fix the problems they see. However, this type of approach won’t fix the root of the issues. A vision of the future, a blueprint of the culture and forward motion to that vision will. But, organizations won’t make the investments necessary and will continue to see satisfaction drop. My prediction is that employee satisfaction will drop even more rapidly with the drastic increase of Millennials in the workforce if organizations don’t look for new ways to engage employees.
3) Connected Service will continue to grow.
Connected service is the personal assistance and support a person provides when selling or renting their personal (house, car, unique goods, etc.) products or services to another person. Uber, Airbnb and Etsy all fall into this category. Consumers want local, natural and environmentally friendly options. With these trends in mind, platforms that connect customers to these types of services will continue to grow further expanding the reach of connected service. This means that big brands will need to continue to compete and change their servicing structure to meet the higher standards that customers expect.
If you’ve ever been stuck on the side of the road with a stalled car, you know what 2017 will feel like in regards to customer experience and employee engagement. Even though you filled your car up with gas and checked the oil, the car stalled. What can you do? Plan your destination, as Simon Sinek told a member of the ConvertiCulture team in 2017, “Begin discussions on where is this journey taking us? – the big picture – use the California trip analogy to help. There’s lots of ways to get there – the point is, you know where you are going.”
