Dive Brief:
- The vast majority of service organizations — 91% — are tracking how much revenue their customer service agents generate, up from more than 50% in 2018, according to a Salesforce survey of over 5,500 customer service professionals released Tuesday.
- Nearly 9 in 10 leaders are reporting that their teams are expected to deliver more revenue through upselling, cross-selling and customer retention over the coming year.
- Customer retention is becoming a common metric, too — 86% of organizations are tracking retention this year, up from 57% in 2018.
Dive Insight:
More CX leaders are expected to demonstrate customer return on investment results, not just improvements to customer satisfaction.
Customer service teams should focus on scalable growth, according to John Quaglietta, VP analyst at Gartner. This approach emphasizes boosting revenue by improving customer retention, while reducing the costs to acquire new customers and serve existing ones.
CX leaders can start with some basic business analysis, according to Quaglietta. Once they understand where their organization’s revenue comes from, they can learn the average costs to bring on a new customer and keep an existing one loyal.
From there, they can create a strategy to help the customer service team move the levers of revenue generation and expenses, and leaders can track the metrics that have the biggest impact, Quaglietta said.
“Your metrics must be both representative of your actions and connected directly to the organization’s economic equation,” Quaglietta told CX Dive in an email.
Leaders also expect generative AI to grow their bottom line. Nearly 4 in 5 service organizations have already invested in AI, and more than 4 in 5 decision-makers plan to boost their AI investments in the coming year, according to the survey.
Leaders taking advantage of generative AI to improve customer service should “embrace disruption,” according to Julie Geller, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group. Geller encourages company leaders to consider how the technology can patch up their company’s CX shortcomings or bolster strengths — not just copy competitors.
“Are there gaps there that you can fill uniquely with a program that can really boost the resolution rates and drive not just customer retention but also offer differentiation?” Geller said.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect John Quaglietta is a VP analyst at Gartner.
