In 2024, customer management has shifted focus to delivering faster, more personalised, and seamless experiences, setting new standards for how businesses engage with their customers.
This was always the goal, but now our tools have drastically improved.
Providing basic customer support was enough because it was all most companies were capable of with what was available to them—today’s customers expect fast, personalised, and seamless experiences.
And businesses that aren’t keeping up? They’re falling behind.
According to The State of Customer Management in 2024 report from CCW Digital, 63% of customer management leaders are putting customer experience (CX) strategy as a top priority this year. The reason? They know that delivering a fantastic customer experience is one of the best ways to stand out in a crowded market. Forward-thinking companies understand that improving customer service with the right technology isn’t just about giving customers a good experience—it’s an opportunity to create an unforgettable one.
At Hubtype, we live and breathe CX, and we’ve been watching these trends closely. The 2024 report confirms what we’ve seen firsthand: customer expectations are rising, technology is evolving, and the key to staying ahead is using the right tools to deliver better, faster, and smarter service.
In this blog, we’ll break down the top priorities from the report, share practical tips on how to improve customer service with the right technology and look ahead to what’s coming in 2025.
Let’s dive in!
What are the customer experience priorities for 2024?
In 2024, customer management leaders are focused on five key priorities:
- Enabling better CX through technology (40%)
- Making better use of customer insights (17%)
- Reducing contact centre volume (11%)
- Building a customer-centric culture (10%)
- Designing experiences that drive loyalty (8%)
What’s the common thread here? Technology. Leaders are recognising that the best way to improve customer service is through the right tools—whether it’s AI-powered chatbots or customer journey analytics.
How to improve customer service with the right technology
Let’s start with the big one.
Enabling better CX through technology is the number one priority for 40% of customer management leaders this year. Customers expect fast, personalised service, and they don’t want to be stuck in long queues or waiting for an email response. To keep up, businesses need to embrace technology that streamlines processes, speeds up response times, and delivers more personalised interactions.
We’ve all heard plenty about AI by now, but customer communication is where it shines. Yes, AI can automate tasks, but it’s really here to make customer interactions smarter, faster, and more personalised. According to the report, businesses that use AI tools see a 30% reduction in ticket volume and a 15% boost in customer satisfaction. That’s not just a slight improvement—it’s a major game changer.
So, what does this mean for you? AI can handle simple customer queries like order updates or FAQs, which frees up your human agents to focus on more complex, high-value interactions. And it doesn’t stop there—AI can also predict customer needs, offer personalised recommendations, and even anticipate issues before they arise.
At Hubtype, our conversational messaging solutions have been helping businesses do just that. By automating routine interactions, we give businesses the freedom to scale without sacrificing quality. And customers? They get the fast, personalised service they crave.
Practical tip: Start with AI where it will have the most immediate impact. Automate repetitive tasks like FAQs or order tracking and analyse the data to understand where AI can assist with more complex tasks, such as AI-driven support for product recommendations or technical troubleshooting.
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Personalised communication is key
Customer communication needs to be smarter and more efficient. Personalised communication means optimising each interaction in real-time. The right technology enables businesses to use conversational AI to provide fast, tailored responses informed by past customer behaviour.
Practical tip: Focus on using AI to deliver immediate, customised solutions for your customers. AI should do more than just track interactions across platforms; it should understand and anticipate customer needs based on their previous engagements. For example, a customer who consistently orders a specific product could receive personalised restock reminders or tailored offers.
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Let’s talk about data. According to the report, 60% of companies are using five or more data sources to track customer interactions. But here’s the kicker—if you’re not using that data to improve customer service with the right technology, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
Customer journey analytics
One of the most powerful ways to leverage customer data is through customer journey analytics (CJA). This tool helps businesses connect the dots between every touchpoint, from website visits to chatbot engagements to support calls. Understanding how these interactions fit together allows you to personalise the customer experience at every stage.
For instance, if a customer browses your website, uses your chatbot, and then contacts your support team, CJA can help you connect these interactions to offer proactive, personalised support. You can anticipate customer needs and address them before the customer even asks
Practical tip: Invest in CJA tools to build a 360-degree view of your customers. Hubtype’s conversational AI platform integrates with CJA tools to track interactions and deliver real-time, personalised responses. Use the insights to adjust your customer service strategy and refine customer touchpoints.
Looking Ahead to 2025: By next year, CJA will move beyond basic data collection into hyper-personalised, real-time customer experiences. The businesses that excel will be those that use data to predict customer behaviour, offer tailored recommendations, and trigger real-time offers based on previous interactions. The future of CX is all about personalisation, and CJA will unlock that potential.
Reducing contact centre volume is another big priority for 11% of customer management leaders in 2024. But how can businesses handle more customers without increasing the workload for support teams? The answer is simple: self-service.
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Empowering customers through self-service
According to the report, customers—especially Gen Z and Millennials—prefer self-service options over speaking to a live agent. In fact, 38% of Gen Z and Millennial customers now opt for self-service when given the choice. They want fast, easy access to information without the hassle of waiting in line.
By offering self-service tools like chatbots, knowledge bases, and interactive FAQs, businesses can significantly reduce the number of inbound inquiries to their contact centres. And the benefits are clear: companies that use self-service tools have seen a 4x reduction in ticket resolution times.
Practical tip: Build a robust self-service strategy by using AI-driven chatbots to handle common inquiries and create a well-organized knowledge base. This not only reduces the volume of support tickets but also improves customer satisfaction by giving customers the autonomy to solve their own problems.
While technology is crucial, the heart of any great customer experience lies in a user-centric culture. It’s about aligning every team—marketing, sales, product, and support—around the same goal: delivering an exceptional customer experience.
Practical tip: Ask yourself how your organisation implementing GenAI? Are you integrating AI solutions that genuinely improve user experience, or are you caught in the hype cycle? The key to sustainable success lies in thoughtful integration, continuous improvement, and a steadfast commitment to user-centricity.
Cross-department collaboration
Improving customer service with the right technology isn’t just the responsibility of the support team. Every department has a role to play. For example, marketing can use customer data to create more personalised campaigns, while the product team can design features that align with customer needs.
Practical tip: Foster collaboration between teams by establishing shared CX KPIs. When everyone is working toward the same customer experience goals, the entire organization is aligned, and the customer feels the difference.
Looking ahead, the future of customer management is all about automation, personalisation, and scalability. The report predicts that by 2025, 95% of customer interactions will be powered by AI and automated technologies. This means businesses need to invest now in scalable, flexible solutions to stay ahead.
Generative AI’s glimpse into the future
Generative AI is the next big thing in customer management. Unlike traditional AI, which responds to predefined inputs, generative AI learns from data to create new content—whether it’s text, images, or even video. Imagine a virtual assistant that not only answers customer questions but also anticipates their needs and provides solutions in real-time.
Practical tip: Start experimenting with generative AI for more complex interactions like personalised product recommendations or even customer support for technical issues. As AI models become more sophisticated, businesses will be able to automate even more interactions without losing the personalized touch.
In 2024, improving customer service with the right technology will help set a new standard for your customer communications. By embracing AI, leveraging data, and building a user-centric culture, businesses can create experiences that are not only seamless but unforgettable.
At Hubtype, we’re here to help you navigate this exciting future. Want to learn more about how conversational AI can transform your customer experience before 2025? Let’s talk!
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