Prepare for the Future by Building Personal Connections With Customers

Earlier this year, we held the 2023 Future of Customer Contact Conference at The Brewery in London. This event brought together hundreds of delegates keen to learn from the experience of industry leaders and world-renowned organisations.

One of the conference’s most notable sessions was a panel discussion on the future of customer contact. This discussion featured New Look’s Senior Customer Engagement and Support Manager Daniel House, New Balance’s Manager Customer Service DTC Ingrid van Ruiswijk, and Beauty Pie’s Senior Manager of Member Happiness Chandni Bhatt. Together, these panellists shared their experiences and their predictions for the trends that are likely to become prevalent in the near future.

ADDING VALUE BY BUILDING PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

Daniel began the discussion, sharing that relationship building will be extremely important in the immediate short term, as people are becoming more cautious of what they spend their money on. Acknowledging that New Look’s products are not a need but rather a want or desire, the company is focusing on building connections on a more personal and emotional level. As a result, their customers can now receive fashion advice and access support via WhatsApp (the same application they use to communicate with friends and family).

Looking towards the future, Ingrid discussed a topic that is highly debated at the moment: automation. According to Ingrid, New Balance has recently embarked on its automation journey, trying to find the perfect balance between the conversations they can automate (e.g., first line questions) and the conversations that require a human element. Expanding on this, she revealed that New Balance is also working towards training its agents how they can connect with customers on a personal level in a way that allows their unique personalities to shine through.

Chandni from Beauty Pie also discussed automation, disclosing that the company has begun its automation journey and is now automating all repetitive queries. In this way, it is giving agents the time to have more enriching conversations that add value to the customers. Giving an example, Chandni shared that as opposed to answering questions such as, “How do I return an order?”, agents can help customers decide on a skincare routine, advise them what products are best for their skin type, and answer any other questions that require a personal connection.

To watch the full panel discussion and learn more about the future of customer contact, see the video below: