A staggering 80% of customer service firms will have abandoned native mobile apps in favour of messaging for a better CX, according to a new Gartner study.
Initially, digital transformation for service organisations focused on websites for desktop users but this then shifted to enterprise-native mobile app experiences, namely smartphones and tablets.
But despite a huge amount of investment and promotion, most CX organisations have failed to gain strong customer adoption of their service apps and as a result, will increasingly shun native mobile app experiences in favour of messaging.
Philip Jenkins, senior director analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice, said: “Messaging channels such as SMS and third-party messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WeChat and WhatsApp have been widely embraced in the global market, making them ideal for service organisations.
“By transitioning to messaging platforms, customer service and support leaders will reduce dependency on native mobile app experiences, reduce cost, increase digital and self-service effectiveness, and achieve a persistent experience for customer engagement.”
The report also found that:
- By 2025, 40% of CX firms will become profit centres by turning into de facto leaders in digital customer engagement: Due to the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer behaviour no longer reflects most organisations’ structures. Gartner reports that 33% of all buyers desire a seller-free sales experience — a preference that climbs to 44% for millennials and that as a result, CX will evolve from a cost centre into a profit centre by having greater responsibility for the customer relationship and journey
- By 2025, a tenth of CX businesses will revamp hierarchical staffing models to create huddle groups: CX leaders are finding that they need access to a broader set of skills than ever before in increasingly complex product and organisational environments. Gartner states that customer service leaders collaborate with cross-functional leaders to create huddle groups focused on customer groups as opposed to internal functions
- Proactive customer engagement interactions will outnumber reactive customer engagement interactions by 2025: Customer engagement is often reactive rather than proactive. This has resulted in high-customer-effort experiences limiting the effectiveness and profitability of self-service. But the current pandemic and economic crisis has motivated many firms to speed up their developmental capabilities to personalise proactive conversations
Brian Manusama, senior director analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice concluded: “An initiative to reach out to customers proactively creates a major opportunity for customer service organisations.
“Along with the cost optimisation benefits of reducing call volumes and increasing engagement with self-service channels, customers feel a greater sense of appreciation toward the provider and its service organisation.”
