Contact centers dramatically changed during the pandemic, and this pace of transformation will continue to accelerate in 2023, as companies work towards delivering the best possible customer experience (CX). Which are the most important contact center trends to know this year?
Here is our top 12 roundup:
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Customers will expect omnichannel support as the default
Omnichannel communication offers a uniform and seamless experience across all platforms, including desktop, mobile, phone, and in-person. As omnichannel is customer-focused, it facilitates simple and smooth navigation across enterprise touchpoints. Customers do not like to repeat their issues with multiple representatives. They would like the agent to recognize their background and handle the problem as quickly as feasible.
The best service in 2023 will be provided by agents with access to information across all channels. This contact center trend will help maintain consistent and unified communication across touchpoints and channels for effective follow-up.
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Contact centers will be forced to focus on customer experience analytics
Traditional contact centers previously relied heavily on the expertise of their employees to boost overall efficiency. In today’s data-driven economy, however, this approach has been rendered obsolete. This is a fundamental shift in how contact centers improve CX, provide superior services, and boost efficiency. In 2023, several contact centers will use data analytics technologies to derive relevant insights from their metrics. This contact center trend will aid in more informed decisions on CX and service quality.
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Companies adopting hyper-personalization will gain a competitive edge
In order to develop insights, hyper-personalization combines real-time customer information with AI. By using this data for strategic individualization via a system or human intervention, businesses may create unique and personalized customer journeys.
For instance, by monitoring an individual’s mood in real time, the contact center might trigger a discount offer to a dissatisfied customer who might be unhappy — or whose business is at stake. Alternatively, the contact center may add the client to an outbound calling list for a more personalized touch, therefore ensuring that a human agent makes proactive corrections. This contact center trend has boundless possibilities.
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Interactive voice response (IVR) refuses to die; instead evolves
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) continues to be regarded as the primary channel for all contact centers. It is among the earliest contact center automation technologies; businesses have used it for years, and it will continue to be popular in 2023.
However, the advent of AI has had a positive effect on IVR. The merging of the different systems will optimize processes and provide sophisticated IVR systems, such as conversational IVR. In 2023, AI will integrate speech recognition with interactive voice response (IVR) platforms and facilitate call routing to employees/agents with the most relevant expertise to address every customer’s concerns. This contact center trend will be an “oldie” but a “goodie” for marketers and CX professionals in 2023!
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Expect the pervasive use of voice analytics tool
Voice remains the predominant method of communication in the majority of contact centers. As CX becomes the main differentiator for organizational effectiveness, every institution will want to profit from their customers’ voice interactions with their agents. In this case, voice analytics is beneficial.
It helps determine if a consumer is upset, agitated, or simply dissatisfied with the encounter they had with the company. By analyzing a massive amount of call data using big data methods and speech analysis, a company can gain valuable business insights. In 2023, the usage of speech analytics technologies, such as Voicebase, CallMiner, etc., to improve the user/customer experience is projected to increase, thanks to this vital contact center trend.
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Live engagement tools will become more common
Rapid response, competent service agents, and prompt resolution are the three most critical aspects of customer service. All of this becomes easier when the agent can engage with the customer live, in real time. Gathering information using live interaction methods like video chat or co-browsing accelerates the identification of the issue. Diagnosing the problem expedites the delivery of solutions via direct conversation and collaboration with the customer’s browser.
In 2023, organizations will be able to assist customers across their entire journey, encompassing attention, conversion, interaction, and retention using live tools — which is a notable contact center trend.
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Self-service will continue to reduce contact center burden and boost CX
Self-service refers to online assistance that does not involve direct contact with a customer service representative. This decreases the number of calls by offering a variety of self-service options. A frequently asked questions page on the company website, for instance, is a fast and simple self-service tool to implement.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased the demand for digital and contact center support. Therefore, customers have requested the ability to autonomously resolve their issues and obtain the information they want. Since then, self-service technologies have been the preferred customer support approach, and this contact center trend will continue into 2023.
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Companies will strive to map the customer journey in real-time
Customer journey mapping in real time enables agents to follow the customer’s route across your website as they speak with the customer.
By analyzing the websites the client has viewed, as well as session data such as ‘time on page’ and ‘clicks,’ the agent may gain a deeper understanding of the customer’s purpose and queries, resulting in a faster problem resolution. If a customer is signed into their account, this approach is much more beneficial.
In 2023, companies can use real-time customer journey mapping to glean more contextualized knowledge. Once the purview of marketers only, this tool will now play an increasingly important role in contact centers, making it a key trend.
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Contact centers will no longer be cost centers
Contact centers are frequently seen as a necessary investment and a cost center, but businesses are recognizing the value that quality assistance can add to the bottom line. Assisting customers who are making expensive purchases is one way contact centers may increase revenue for organizations. For bulk or complex transactions, interacting with a contact center employee allows customers to ask additional (or closing) questions and verify that the items they’ve selected meet their requirements.
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Text analytics will be deeply embedded in contact center capabilities
Text messaging has emerged as an increasingly common way for customers to contact businesses in recent years. Whether via social networks, instant chat, or emails, customers need the opportunity to communicate in writing with your company. Text will rule in 2023, and this contact center trend will help companies unlock the maximum value from it.
Text analytics enables the evaluation and monitoring of all textual communication, regardless of where it originates. Using text analytics, you can analyze each textual interaction in real-time to identify issues, recognize patterns, and provide real-time recommendations. You also have access to a wealth of detailed reports for evaluating quality and creating a CX success program.
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Contact center systems will integrate with other business applications
Operating in silos prevents accurate consumer behavior data collection. Contact center systems must therefore be integrated with other business tools like business intelligence (BI), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in order to centralize all customer information. This is a top contact center trend for this year.
In 2023, one of the important aspects of delivering a pleasurable customer experience will be integrating your information systems so that agents have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the customers, they are interacting with.
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Get ready for XCaaS
Even though cloud-based Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) has largely replaced legacy tools, a new trend, Experience Communications as a Service, will develop gradually in 2023. (XCaaS). It combines CCaaS and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) into a unified offering, enabling operations to manage internal and external communication with a single license.
Providers like Webex, RingCentral, or Avaya now offer pre-configured XCaaS platforms, which was formerly achieved on an ad-hoc or DIY basis. Meanwhile, top UCaaS service provider Zoom has released its very own CCaaS platform. This contact center trend entails integrating the customer experience and the employee experience under a single platform and optimizing both via a centralized framework.
Contact centers are essential for connected customer experience with no friction across channels or at different stages of the CX funnel. These 12 trends will help you prepare for what’s next in CX.
