The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2022

Technology Deep Dive

The last thing any customer wants is a service experience that feels impersonal—or robotic.

Customers want interactions to feel authentic and personal. They want past interactions to inform future conversations. And much like any other relationship,  they hate repeating themselves or feeling like companies aren’t listening or learning from what they have to say.

Businesses must move beyond just thinking of customer interactions as one-off engagements when something goes wrong. Customers already connect over platforms that make it possible to pick back up on a conversation wherever and whenever is convenient—and they expect businesses to do the same.

But while many companies recognize  the urgent need to adopt a more conversational approach, most are only scratching the surface with what’s possible and what’s needed to succeed.

Conversational customer service instead weaves  each interaction into a larger, ongoing dialogue with customers—one that builds a deeper, more insightful relationship as time goes on. It’s about much more than just adding certain channels, but far too often internal barriers make it difficult for companies to fully embrace  a conversational approach.

“So many rich conversations are happening with customers, yet this valuable context ends up being locked within a particular department and isn’t visible to others who could benefit from this information.”

MIKE GOZZO, Vice president OF PRODUCT  AT ZENDESK

Without these contextual clues, it’s impossible to  offer personalized service, engage in proactive communication, or flag valuable feedback for product and strategy teams.

Instead, customers are treated like strangers each time they reach out—with more than 60 percent now willing to walk away after just one bad experience. It’s time to break down those walls between you and your customers—and we’ll show you how with insights from customers, agents, business leaders, and our own internal teams.

Customers want to have conversations

71%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

61%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

63%

Want help when buying or returning an item

51%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

47%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

45%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

68%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

58%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

60%

Want help when buying or returning an item

51%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

47%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

41%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

85%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

82%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

81%

Want help when buying or returning an item

70%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

69%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

70%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

75%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

82%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

79%

Want help when buying or returning an item

73%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

70%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

72%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

72%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

62%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

64%

Want help when buying or returning an item

51%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

48%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

53%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

74%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

69%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

74%

Want help when buying or returning an item

59%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

55%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

49%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

67%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

49%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

50%

Want help when buying or returning an item

40%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

43%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

34%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

69%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

55%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

54%

Want help when buying or returning an item

45%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

42%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

36%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

68%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

60%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

58%

Want help when buying or returning an item

50%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

40%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

38%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

86%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

83%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

83%

Want help when buying or returning an item

69%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

71%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

70%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

64%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

66%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

65%

Want help when buying or returning an item

62%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

58%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

57%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

81%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

81%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

81%

Want help when buying or returning an item

77%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

72%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

75%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

71%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

70%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

70%

Want help when buying or returning an item

60%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

60%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

58%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

71%

Expect agents to have access to all relevant information

62%

Want to seamlessly continue conversations across channels

61%

Want help when buying or returning an item

40%

Are open to product recommendations from agents

39%

Are willing to complete transactions across multiple channels

31%

Want to use channels that are familiar to them

Methodology How we ran the research

Data in this report comes from three sources: One global survey of 3,500 consumers, one global survey of 4,600 business respondents, and Zendesk Benchmark product usage data from more than 97,500 companies.

Go behind the scenes

What is conversational customer service?

While conversational service is new to most businesses, these types of effortless conversations have become the norm for consumers in virtually all aspects of their daily lives.

“The way we speak to our friends and family has shifted, and it’s changing the expectations of customers,” says Gozzo. “If a personal conversation can feel this rich and fluid, so too should conversations with a company. It’s where customer service is going in the future.”

For customers, conversational service  is about having more natural, fluid conversations with a company that knows you and your history with them.

65% of companies want to add tools that allow agents to work across multiple channels

For companies, it’s about capturing the entire customer experience—from when a person first engages with  a business, visits a website, or even walks into a store. Much like your text message history, each question, comment, or response is stored as part of a larger conversation. This enables businesses to personalize future interactions and proactively engage with their customers as they get to know them better.

With more than 70 percent of customers now saying that they expect conversational experiences, the future may already be here.

Consumers don’t want their interactions to feel transactional. And they expect personalized service based on conversations they’ve already had. More specifically:

+74%

of customers expect agents to have access to all information relevant to their account and query

+73%

want the ability to start a conversation on one channel and pick it back up on another

+60%

are willing to use multiple channels to start and then complete a transaction

Businesses are trailing behind expectations

Less than 40 percent report that they can deliver conversations that allow a customer to respond whenever and wherever is convenient. Despite rising interest—34 percent say they’re already adding much-needed capabilities for conversational service—many haven’t fully embraced the fundamentals needed for success.

For instance, only 42 percent of companies can currently integrate their customer service platform with other business channels like Apple Business Chat, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp.

Investing in change for better business

90 percent of business leaders and managers acknowledge that their organizations will have to make changes to support conversational customer service.

Each business’ needs are different, but the three changes that most respondents acknowledged they need to make are:

+28%

of companies say they will need to implement new work processes

+27%

say they still need to train agents on new ways to converse with customers

+26%

say they’ll need to invest in better automation capabilities

Now is not the time to simply add a few channels or continue  with business-as-usual.

With companies now competing on the quality of their customer service, no one can afford to sit back and fall behind. To start delivering the kinds of customer experiences that drive growth and build lasting, long-term relationships with customers, leaders must rethink their mindset and their approach.

Getting conversational with customers starts with having the right tools and technologies in place

Evaluate your existing channels turn on new ones if needed, and ensure that customers have a consistent experience - regardless of how they choose to connect.

Adopt a unified platform across channels that can support conversations.

As conversations increase, leverage AI or automation to manage the additional influx, answer questions outside of normal business hours, and triage requests. Even if a chatbot can't answer the question, it's a nice way to offer a greeting and let the customer know help is on the way.

+65%

of companies want to revamp metrics around quality of the customer service experience

+68%

of companies want to allow digital verification of customers and commerce history without having to speak to live agents

+65%

of companies want to add tools that allow agents to work across multiple channels

Organizations admit they have work to do

22% 30% 33% 29% 22% 26% 27% 27% 29% 33% 30% 30%

need to implement new work processes

22% 27% 33% 24% 22% 32% 31% 31% 34% 29% 24% 35%

need to define new metrics to measure service quality

19% 30% 30% 27% 22% 26% 30% 28% 24% 34% 26% 29%

need to train agents in new conversational strategies

21% 27% 29% 27% 21% 33% 28% 26% 28% 22% 28% 22%

need to support cross-channel interactions

23% 24% 31% 28% 20% 22% 26% 31% 34% 25% 28% 27%

need to design new workflows

20% 24% 28% 24% 29% 18% 27% 29% 31% 24% 25% 28%

need to add new channels

13% 21% 23% 20% 13% 15% 18% 21% 34% 21% 21% 24%

need to identify new ways to enable cross-department collaboration

17% 19% 21% 20% 15% 18% 20% 17% 31% 28% 19% 21%

need to change the way channels are staffed

14% 19% 22% 17% 18% 19% 22% 22% 24% 28% 23% 15%

need to invest in better automation capabilities

Beyond the changes to tools and technologies, companies must be prepared to take a hard look at their current approach.

Customer Story Delivering personal touches to digital spaces

How Four Seasons mixed high-touch and high-tech to make digital experiences more personal.

Read their story

Here are three strategic questions every company should be asking to help them build stronger relationships with their customers:

Where are the communication barriers (both internal and external) that are preventing a more organic, conversational experience?

Think about your existing customer service operation. How can you make customers feel warm and welcomed rather than just another person in the queue? Are there barriers preventing agents from accessing the data they need to provide more natural, personalized service? If so, you’re not alone. Only 29 percent of agents report being very effective at collaborating with the right teams to build stronger customer relationships.

How can you get to know your customers on a more personal level?

Getting to know your customers better means finding opportunities to connect beyond one-off instances when things go wrong. Once you’re on a first name basis, you can begin to look for other opportunities to optimize their experience.

How can you use these deeper connections with customers to empower the rest of your business? 

Better relationships with customers can have benefits for your entire business by highlighting common problems or opportunities to improve products or services—but only if it reaches the right people. Make sure that this information is shared widely and isn’t siloed within the support team.

Conversational service

Customer service isn't human enough

The last thing any customer wants is a service experience that feels impersonal—or robotic.

“So many rich conversations are happening with customers, yet this valuable context ends up being locked within a particular department and isn’t visible to others who could benefit from this information.”

Businesses risk getting left out of the conversation

What is conversational customer service?

65% of companies want to add tools that allow agents to work across multiple channels

With more than 70 percent of customers now saying that they expect conversational experiences, the future may already be here.

Businesses are trailing behind expectations

Investing in change for better business

Win big with small talk

Now is not the time to simply add a few channels or continue  with business-as-usual.

Getting conversational with customers starts with having the right tools and technologies in place

Organizations admit they have work to do

Beyond the changes to tools and technologies, companies must be prepared to take a hard look at their current approach.

Here are three strategic questions every company should be asking to help them build stronger relationships with their customers:

Where are the communication barriers (both internal and external) that are preventing a more organic, conversational experience?

How can you get to know your customers on a more personal level?

How can you use these deeper connections with customers to empower the rest of your business?

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