Customer Experience (CX) trends Summary of customer service insights in the GenAI era Customer experience is a top priority when it comes to making or breaking your bottom line. As we found in our global survey of 6,400 B2B and B2C customers, customer service agents, and customer experience leaders, the customer experience determines whether your organization stands out for the right or wrong reasons. So, how do you deliver unmatched customer journeys that empower your organization to thrive? CX success requires a careful balance of people, process, and technology, along with a clear strategy to serve the customer while keeping costs in line. Find out the five key factors: 1. Disconnected and discontented customers 2. Overburdened agents 3. High pressure on leaders 4. The value of AI and GenAI 5. The future of customer experience Customer expectations for great service experiences are only increasing, piling on the pressure to get it right. But this is difficult when customers are frustrated by the inability to quickly connect with an agent, and reluctant to use virtual agents for fear of poor understanding and unhelpful responses. Even with increasingly sophisticated self-service technology like chatbots with large language models, customers still prefer the human touch from live agents. Complex processes from the middle and back offices hinder their ability to deliver fast and frictionless customer experiences. Between customers’ preference for live agents and those agents being too occupied with manual processes to serve them efficiently, there’s rising pressure on customer experience leaders to boost productivity while managing limited resources. Customer Experience Leaders are turning to AI and GenAI as vital tools to drive customer satisfaction and agent productivity. For example, AI can preempt customer bottlenecks using process mining and predictive intelligence. It also gives agents more time to satisfy customers with tools like intelligent routing, personalized recommendations, and automated document processing. Customer expectations are only going to become more demanding in the future. Both customer experience leaders and agents predict that expectations for faster, better services and first-time resolution will rise even higher over the next three years. A long-term, strategic plan involving proven solutions— especially AI—is crucial. Takeaways There are two areas organizations should focus on to meet customers’ rising expectations for seamless services: • Empower agents with real-time information and business intelligence so they can solve cases quickly and empathetically • Provide more intuitive self-service options and AI-driven solutions with a focus on clarity and shortening time to resolution Takeaways To unburden agents and ensure that they can deliver better experiences faster, organizations should prioritize: • Optimizing self-service tools to incentivize customers to use them more • Expanding automation to give customer service agents more time to deliver fast, personalized experiences • Improving work distribution, scheduling, and productivity with workforce management solutions The power of customer satisfaction KEY FINDING 1 Customers feel disconnected and discontented KEY FINDING 2 Customer service agents are overburdened KEY FINDING 3 Customer experience leaders are under pressure KEY FINDING 4 AI and GenAI are delivering real value in customer service KEY FINDING 5 Organizations must anticipate the future of customer experience How to act on these insights In the current economic climate, meeting evolving customer expectations is as important as it is difficult. The takeaways in this report summary should act as strategic pillars to guide you along your journey to better customer experiences. ServiceNow can help you carry out this journey in many ways, such as: • Providing complete solutions that can deliver great customer experiences • Reducing costs by enabling proactive services and seamless self-service • Streamlining the front, middle, and back offices with integration and automation for improved visibility and execution • Empowering agents with AI and GenAI tools to quickly and empathetically resolve issues Read the full report or contact your ServiceNow representative to learn more about the survey’s five key findings, as well as the Now Platform’s ability to help you action them. 69% of customers say that poor experiences make them consider switching brands 84% of customers say that great experiences make them more likely to recommend a brand Communication difficulties and delayed action between departments are some of the biggest challenges for customer service agents. Takeaways The answer lies in being smarter about how you allocate resources. These suggestions will help drive productivity, improve resource efficiency, and create a strong business impact for the long term: • Invest in AI and GenAI to streamline both customer and agent experiences • Use workforce optimization tools to refocus scheduling and capacity planning on meeting customer needs as a top priority Takeaways AI is undoubtedly advantageous. The question is not which AI tools to implement, but how to implement them most effectively. With a cohesive AI and generative AI strategy, organizations can: • Improve customer self-service • Drive agent productivity • Secure a competitive advantage Takeaways To create a future of faster resolutions, reduced agent workload, and increased customer satisfaction, organizations should consider: • Workforce optimization • Integrating with systems of record • Improving self-service capabilities • Automate processes between the front, middle, and back offices • Investing in AI Customer satisfaction is essential to the sustainability of our business. The need for immediate response has become the rule.” — Anonymous Customer Experience Leader, France Rely more on AI and think of it as a way to please your customers.” — Anonymous Customer Experience Leader, Japan The future of assistance lies in automating the service by using AI.” — Anonymous Customer Experience Leader, France 89% of customers think that it’s crucial for agents to resolve their issues 44% of customers feel that it takes too long to connect to a live agent 35% of customers are frustrated by chatbots not understanding their issues Read full report