A trend is a short-lived movement or popular method, style, or design choice. However, when it comes to business, a trend is much more. Following the trends can give you considerable insight into what those around you are doing – and more importantly, what is working.

Interested in what 2019 has in store in terms of customer service trends and customer experience plans? Let’s take a quick dive into what practices businesses are finding most successful as we move into the new year!

A Strong Move Toward Direct Interaction and Real Time Support

In our internet-driven world, instant gratification has become the norm, and often businesses lean towards a one-size fits all approach. But many customers either miss, or respond very well to, a personal touch. Choosing to opt for direct messaging over public announcements and news banners, adding a chat support service to your website—there are many ways to invite more interaction into your client or patron interfacing, and 2019 promises to see even more growth and positive change by using it more than ever before.

Chatbots and human chat services have both seen a huge surge in particular. Giving a client easy access to the tools they need to either complete a transaction or to find help is a huge advantage, both for your business and for the customer’s experience. Search bars aren’t useless by any means, but they can’t really take care of a problem the way a person or well-programmed AI can!

A Larger Focus on Social Media

The use of social media—Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter—has been attempted by many in recent years. However more and more we’re seeing positive change from not just using social media, but mastering it. Devoting resources and time to developing a strong social media campaign has been a growing trend for years now, but 2019 promises to see companies wholly devoted to doing it right.

Why? Because it feeds into what was mentioned above: that move toward direct interaction. Social media is a very strong tool that gives your consumers a voice. It’s a source of positive reviews, a place to connect with less-than-happy clients to resolve their issues (thus making them a return client), and a great way to advertise in real time to an ever-expanding audience.

Big Moves Toward a Stronger Workplace Culture

Great customer service can make or break any business, from a local retail store all the way to a major corporation. But, as we’ve discussed recently, unhappy employees feed into a bad work environment that will bleed over into customer service. And the fault doesn’t necessarily lie with the employees! Many can “put on a face,” but that rarely comes across as genuine. Also, unhappy employees rarely grow or evolve. They don’t think outside of the box, and they never innovate.

These negative work environments, and the impacts they have, are becoming more and more recognizable as this year draws to a close. This has generated a strong trend—we could nearly call it a movement—toward building a stronger, healthier workplace culture. If you treat your employees as you treat your customers you’ll find a considerable difference in the productivity, growth, and customer experience in your business.

If you’re looking forward to building long-term clients and securing growth for your business while we transition into 2019, keep these proven trends in mind as you start planning. And remember—each of these trends can be a huge boon to your business, but they show the best results when implemented and acted on together!

Customer Service Trends for 2019