To stand out in the increasingly saturated broadband and telecom markets, you need to prioritize customer service. A successful customer service strategy starts by anticipating your customers’ demands and planning ahead for the new year.
Today's customers have higher expectations than ever, from faster response times to tailored tech support interactions. Below are the top customer service trends businesses must embrace to stand out in the new year.
Looking to implement measurable customer support goals in the new year?
Why your business needs to prioritize customer service
Customer expectations are high. If your company fails to meet them, they’re not giving second chances. According to Forbes, 96% of customers will leave a business after just one bad service experience.
Additionally, research shows poor customer service can cost businesses up to $1.6 trillion per year. By taking the time to implement a strong customer service strategy, you can reduce customer churn, increase profitability and stand out from the competition.
The top customer service trends in 2025
Get ahead of competitors by adapting your customer service strategy to meet customers’ expectations in 2025. Below are the top customer service trends your business needs to know for the new year.
AI will continue to reshape customer service
AI customer service will continue to transform the broadband and telecom industries and customer expectations. Advances in natural language processing will allow AI to understand customer queries better so it can effectively address tech support requests.
As the technology continues to evolve, your business can scale tech support effectively to address customer service inquiries in a timely manner. This is critical as most customers expect your business to respond to their communications within five minutes or less.
Integrating AI into your CX strategy can also improve key customer service metrics. As it better understands human language and sentiment, AI can guide customers to the resources they need or connect them to the right agent to resolve their tech support issues. This reduces customer service response times, improves first-contact resolution and decreases call center volume.
Chatbots will have a critical role to play in customer interactions
Conversational AI chatbots, in tandem with human agents, can be a powerful tool for scaling tech support. These chatbots use machine learning to respond to customer inquiries in a natural-sounding way.
These chatbots can help automate troubleshooting for common tech support issues, such as connectivity resets. For more complex queries, they can also ensure customers are routed to the right agent for faster service resolution.
Additionally, while human agents need to sleep, chatbots never do. By implementing chatbots into your customer service strategy, you can ensure customers can access the tech support they need anytime, day or night.
Chatbots can also be critical tools for regional service providers to maintain competitive tech support. Combining chatbots and human agents can help these smaller businesses respond to customer inquiries faster and stay competitive against larger service providers.
Self-service will be vital for customer retention
Did you know that 88% of customers expect businesses to provide self-service options? This means that customer self-service is no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have to improve the customer experience.
However, customer self-service is now more than just lengthy, text-based FAQ pages. Good customer self-service leverages interactive tutorials that are accessible, easy to implement and dynamically updated.
Leveraging self-service tools will help your business reduce unnecessary expenses, save time and decrease customer churn. Additionally, implementing customer self-service tools is vital to tailoring your customer service strategy to Gen Z, a generation with over $360 billion in buying power.
Personalized customer service experiences will become the norm
A one-size-fits-all approach is no longer going to cut it with customers. Businesses must tailor their interactions to the individual to stay competitive.
Personalized customer service is key to improving customer satisfaction and retention. In fact, more than three-fourths of customers say they’re frustrated by the lack of personalized interactions with brands.
So, how can you create a tailored experience for your customer base? One easy way to start is by ensuring you supply self-service materials in the customer’s preferred language.
For example, did you know that one in five Canadians say French is their first language? If your telecom company does business in Canada, you should ensure customers can access interactive tutorials in French instead of only providing options in English.
Another way to personalize the tech support experience is through virtualization, also known as virtualized tech support. With virtualization, agents can mimic the functionality of physical devices, such as an iPhone 12 mini. However, unlike physical devices which quickly become outdated, virtual devices update dynamically.
Virtualization also allows agents to switch between multiple versions of the same device. This enables them to provide a more tailored tech support experience, decrease average handling time and resolve tech support issues much more quickly.
Live video support will streamline issue resolution
There’s no doubt that live video support is the future of customer service. Chat or phone support can create many opportunities for miscommunication between agents and customers. Resolving a tech support issue can require multiple interactions, leading to frustration for both parties.
For example, imagine a broadband customer is having an issue connecting to the internet. If they call in for help, they’d have to describe where their router is located. The agent then has to imagine where the router is situated in the customer’s home or business to diagnose the issue and troubleshoot.
Video support cuts through the confusion by allowing agents to see what the customer sees. This improves customer and agent communication, increasing first-call resolution rates and reducing average handle time for customer support requests.
Human interactions will be critical in an automated world
Technology like AI can't replace humans completely. Real, live agents will play a critical role in differentiating your brand from competitors that rely completely on automation.
According to the National Customer Rage survey, customers' number one frustration is the inability to speak with a human. Over half of customers say talking to a real person creates a better service experience.
In short, this means you can't substitute contact center agents with chatbots or other technology. Instead, businesses will use tools like AI to augment agent performance. With AI, chatbots and other tools, your agents can work smarter, not harder.
For example, you can use AI to improve call center agent productivity. AI can reduce agents' time on manual tasks, allowing them to work on more complex tech support requests. Research shows using AI can save agents up to two hours per day.
Additionally, you can use AI to create a more effective agent onboarding program. You can use the technology to help guide agents through responding to customer service requests. It can also ensure agents can quickly find up-to-date support materials to resolve tech support issues faster.
Study customer service trends to stay ahead of the competition
Quality customer service is essential for retaining customers and differentiating a brand. It allows businesses to deliver the tech support experiences that customers seek, increasing satisfaction and positively impacting the bottom line. By analyzing customer service trends, organizations can refine their customer experience strategies and effectively address rising customer expectations in the coming year.
Businesses seeking to leverage customer service to drive sales can benefit from this specialized guide designed to help broadband and telecom companies unlock the potential of exceptional support to fuel growth. Access the guide today to explore actionable strategies for success.
