A look at how much corporations have wavered in their commitment to Customer Service over the past few decades and what trends are emerging in 2023 that will help companies willing to recommit themselves to offering an outstanding customer experience to their customer base.

1. Why Corporations Need to Return to a Focus on
Customer Experience in 2023
By Chris Marocchi
For the majority of my life, I’ve observed the evolution of customer service, as the correlation of how
customer service and successful business growth/customer retention has grown stronger with each new
decade. When I was attending graduate school, we studied examples of companies with extreme
contrasts in how they approached customer service policy. Back in the 90’s, for example, we’d contrast
the highly annoying experience of the DMV with the outstanding customer service offered by
Nordstrom, especially pertaining to their legendary return policies. For the most part, it seemed that
companies were starting to realize the importance of inching toward that Nordstrom standard of
customer service as a means to gain a competitive edge. All appeared to be well in the directional
trends of customer service entering the 2000s.
Corporations Took Their Eye off the Customer Experience Ball
Once we entered the 2000’s, something surprising happened. Customer Service did not continue to
evolve the way I thought it would (and should). Some companies got it – Jet Blue Airlines always
delivered excellent service, Ritz Carlton delivered 5-star service to its guests, including improved
digital booking services and providing items free of charge to guests that may have forgotten that item
at home, and Amazon set the bar by offering free – and even overnight - delivery (not to mention
same-day delivery options!). But why did other companies/industries seem to get worse (cable
companies, event ticketing agencies, Spirit Airlines, and anybody else that requires you to remain on
hold for more than 30 minutes)? How did we go from mediocre to worse in so many cases?
I believe there are multiple factors that led to declining customer service levels over the past 20 years.
Here are a few:
1. Corporate leadership deciding that it wasn’t a financial priority to invest in improving the
customer experience; deciding that “product” superiority was more important than “customer
experience” superiority.
2. A challenge with labor shortage and being able to staff customer service teams (especially
during and post Covid).

2. 3. Companies either not investing enough in, or relying too heavily on technology (have you ever
had to deal with an AI help ‘bot’ that seemed heavy on the ‘artificial’ but light on the
‘intelligence?’).
4. Global supply chain issues affecting delivery times or availability at all (especially during and
post Covid).
What to Expect in 2023
As we head into 2023, companies face a difficult crossroads. Inflation has consumers on edge, staffing
shortages impact frontline workers, and technology continues to grow and evolve. But even with all of
these changes and challenges, the best customer experiences are focused on one thing: people.
It’s never been more important to understand your customers and be willing and able to change and
evolve.
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In the year ahead, service will remain a priority as customers and businesses continue to face
unrelenting pressure with inflation, global conflict, supply chain issues, and ongoing COVID threats.
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The service customers receive affects their perception of a brand, and how likely they are to remain a
customer. After all, service is the main point of contact between a business and its customers –
oftentimes the only point of contact.
According to a global consumer survey:
• 60% of customers would buy more if a business treated them better
• 62% say that businesses need to care more about them
This represents an opportunity for brands willing to make the effort. Treat customers better and care
more, and you’ll have a natural advantage over your rivals.
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Here’s a sampling of the research I’ve gathered in looking at what changes to expect in the months
ahead:
1. Automation and Self-Service to Ease Staffing Shortages
Staffing concerns remain a problem for all companies. But brands can’t make excuses—they need to
find creative solutions to work around challenges. Automating contact centers and warehouses reduces
the need for human workers without sacrificing customer experience. In 2023, self-service options will
soar and expand to short videos and voice memos to allow customers to solve problems and get
answers on their own time.
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2. Widespread Immersive Experiences
Immersive AR and VR experiences will become the norm in 2023 as customers step into a new world.
Immersive experiences will go beyond trying on clothing and makeup virtually to showcasing products
and brands and building virtual worlds around products.
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3. 3. A recovering supply chain will restore predictability
The disruption of global supply chains during the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have caused
unpredictable delays for many businesses, leading to increased customer service loads and dissatisfied
customers. In the most recent quarter, there have been signs of improvement, and analysts expect that
to continue into 2023.
This recovery should make life easier on customer service teams, and it may contribute to increased
ecommerce orders, particularly internationally.
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4. Employment upheaval will complicate customer experiences
The ongoing mass layoffs, particularly in the tech world, will impact many companies in 2023. Service
organizations may have to handle growing workloads with reduced staffing. Software support teams
can anticipate a rise in “new user” queries as their customers share out existing workloads onto the
desks of people who have never used the software before.
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5. There will be greater investment in self-service
After the early-pandemic scramble to shift everything online, businesses will look to build sustainable
online models. Enabling more effective and accessible self-service options is critical to scaling up
online service in all sectors. Expect companies to invest time and energy into planning and rolling out
self-service channels throughout 2023, meaning new opportunities for customer service folks skilled in
that area.
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6. AI will be used to make people more effective
Artificial intelligence in software is maturing beyond an “all things to all people” marketing buzzword
into a useful tool in the kit. Specifically, we are seeing a shift from AI positioned as a replacement for
human customer service teams to instead be an enabler of increased efficiency and effectiveness of the
team. Look out for a rise in the use of AI tools to help with areas like:
• Understanding and categorizing incoming customer feedback.
• Automating the tagging, triaging, and routing of support conversations.
• Offering the most relevant best practices to the customer service team.
• Using sentiment and intention analysis as an input to further automation and organization.
• Easing the complexity of understanding customer data spread across separate systems.
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4. A ‘Raving Fans’ Lesson Learned in Customer Experience
About 20 years ago, I was working for a marketing agency in Orange County. I was an Account
Supervisor, and one of my largest B2B accounts had a big trade show coming up. My agency had
designed literature and brochures for the show, and it was my responsibility to ensure that the printed
materials shipped out on time. To my dismay, the printer missed the deadline. I called the printer and
demanded to speak with the VP over our account. She expressed deep regret for missing the deadline
and stated that the mistake was incongruent with their philosophies on customer service. She
referenced the book ‘Raving Fans’ and offered to send me a copy. She then asked for a 2
nd
chance.
After receiving the book and reading it, I decided to give it to her.
Anyone who has worked for me since that time understands my passion for this book and its simple
formula for creating ‘Raving Fans’ among our customers. It’s a quick read and I highly recommend it,
but my favorite principle highlighted in the book is that of “Discover What the Customer Wants.
Deliver Plus One.”
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This principle has reference to the fact that companies should not drive promises down, but should
deliver consistently – then drive delivery up. “Exceeding expectations is important, but it’s even more
important to consistently meet expectations. Meet first. Exceed second.”
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Conclusion
With the emergence of more advanced AI technology and understanding surrounding how important
customer service is, it is my hope that more companies will take advantage of the resources available
and commit to an enhanced customer experience during the purchase cycle and throughout the post-
purchase support phase. I hope that companies will pay attention to the feedback and reviews they will
receive as a result of their customer service and understand that human resources and AI technology
are not mutually exclusive. A lack of labor available to them is no longer an excuse. Enhanced AI and
more proliferation of self-service capabilities will make it feasible for virtually any company to offer
better customer support. But even with all the technology available to businesses to day, nothing beats
a human interaction. When support efforts with AI bots fail to resolve a customer’s inquiry, I sincerely
hope that companies will allow for human interaction to follow up on the customer’s specific need that
self-service and AI were not able to resolve. The trends cited above certainly give me hope that the
notion of exceeding customers’ expectations is certainly a reality, and not just an unattainable standard.

5. Sources
1. ‘Five Customer Experience Trends to Watch in 2023’; Morgan;
https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2022/12/01/five-cx-trends-to-watch-in-
2023/?sh=7a4116b23c7f
2. ‘Customer Service Trends 2023’; Tarvainen; https://www.the-future-of-
commerce.com/2022/12/13/customer-service-trends-2023/
3. ‘Customer Service Trends 2023’; Tarvainen; https://www.the-future-of-
commerce.com/2022/12/13/customer-service-trends-2023/
4. ‘Five Customer Experience Trends to Watch in 2023’; Morgan;
https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2022/12/01/five-cx-trends-to-watch-in-
2023/?sh=7a4116b23c7f
5. ‘Five Customer Experience Trends to Watch in 2023’; Morgan;
https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2022/12/01/five-cx-trends-to-watch-in-
2023/?sh=7a4116b23c7f
6. ‘7 Predictions for Customer Service and Support in 2023’; Patterson;
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/customer-service-trends-2023/
7. ‘7 Predictions for Customer Service and Support in 2023’; Patterson;
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/customer-service-trends-2023/
8. ‘7 Predictions for Customer Service and Support in 2023’; Patterson;
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/customer-service-trends-2023/
9. ‘7 Predictions for Customer Service and Support in 2023’; Patterson;
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/customer-service-trends-2023/
10. ‘Customer Service Trends 2023’; Tarvainen; https://www.the-future-of-
commerce.com/2022/12/13/customer-service-trends-2023/
11. ‘Raving Fans’; Blanchard/Bowles; pg 101
12. ‘Raving Fans’; Blanchard/Bowles; pg 109