According to the 2020 State of Customer Service Annual Report by leading growth platform HubSpot, a third of customer service professionals believe that their organisation do not view customer experience as an opportunity for growth, which is an increase from last year’s 23 percent.
More than 85 percent of CX experts claim that customer expectations are at an all-time high, which poses a challenge for modern businesses to invest more in customer service.
The report surveyed more than 1,000 customer service professionals from the UK, US, Canada and Australia in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, showing that 86 percent of service teams globally agree that customer expectations are higher than ever. Ninety-one percent of UK service teams agree on the surge in customer expectations, while 29 percent of them still think that customer service is an additional expense.
The findings also reveal high growth companies to be more perceptive of customers’ thoughts, feedback, and feelings towards their business. In general, almost 40 percent of businesses are not tracking customer satisfaction at all, while 69 percent of high growth companies are making an effort in doing so. By providing seamless, effective service to their customers, these businesses are able to stay ahead of the competition.
The report also found 72 percent of UK companies successfully tracking customer satisfaction, which is above both the high growth average and American companies (59 percent).
When it comes to using tools and data to improve CX, UK customer service experts are at the top of the list, with 37 percent of UK businesses using CRM, 52 percent using help desk systems and 36 percent using live website chat. The vast majority of respondents (93 percent) agrees that CRM is key to managing data in order to improve customer service.
Inken Kuhlmann-Rhinow, Marketing Director, EMEA at HubSpot, commented: “The evidence in this report shows that the ability of customer service to drive business growth is being undervalued. It’s important we focus on our customers and take care of them by investing in the correct tools to listen to their feedback. This can no longer be perceived as a burden for companies, but a real growth opportunity and perhaps the most significant way to ensure sustainable growth. Remember that customer retention is also a two-sided long game that requires persistence and strategy, so as a growing organisation, it’s important to scale both the employee and the customer.”