Is the Customer Service Recession Ending?
Since the middle of the pandemic, customer experience in nearly all industries has dropped to a two-decade low. Customers, patients, clients, tenants, guests, or whatever you may call the person buying your services and products have been frustrated during these tough times. Due to an unprecedented booming economy, leaders started taking shortcuts, solely focusing on sales and profit, reducing their hiring standards to fill positions, and expecting and demanding more of their employees including their customer service representatives, yet not investing in the employee culture and customer experience. All of this has caused employee burnout, low employee morale, high turnover, inconsistency including bad experiences along the customer journey, and customer attrition. However, it appears more organizations are finally realizing that the customer experience they deliver is their biggest competitive advantage. Is the customer service recession ending?
“If your customer experience is not consistently good, you’d better be the cheapest.”
Hopeful Signs, but Still Room for Greater Economic Improvement
Despite continuing supply chain challenges the second quarter of 2023 has marked an impressive rebound in the U.S. with the largest quarterly surge in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) since 2008. But even as the U.S. economy demonstrates broad-based improvements, customer satisfaction levels remain a concern, hovering below desired benchmarks. Consumer sentiment matters. With Retail Customer Experience reporting that a whopping 73% of consumers–up from 66% in 2022–would stop doing business with a brand after just one bad customer experience, the concern is more than valid.
*Related – Learning to Recognize And Navigate The Customer Service Recession
The backdrop of this upward trajectory in customer satisfaction comes after an extended phase of decline. Such an uptick is pivotal since a market economy’s health is closely tied to its customer satisfaction–often mirroring economic growth. Noteworthy economic indicators include a 0.7% rise in ACSI, a 1.6% increase in consumer spending, and a robust 2.4% growth in GDP.
From the tail end of 2018 through mid-2022, customer contentment receded almost every quarter. It plummeted to its lowest point in nearly two decades. However, a silver lining emerged in the latter half of 2022, with an apparent boost in consumer confidence. We’ve seen four consecutive quarters of growth, hinting at potential stabilization and a higher percentage of satisfied customers across customer segments and industries.
Mirror, Mirror: The Market Share and Customer Experience Correlation
While the horizon seems promising with reduced inflation, ascending customer satisfaction, and a thriving economy and consumer spending, it remains a rarity given the looming economic hurdles. The ACSI data infuses optimism, hinting at the resurgence of customer satisfaction and related customer loyalty as a prime catalyst for corporate profitability and stock market performance. This, coupled with an upswing in consumer expenditure, might propel better economic growth, provided unforeseen challenges remain at bay. In these shifting economic times, companies that deliver a consistent customer experience–or become educated on how to do so–will outshine their competitors, satisfying their customer bases while gaining loyal customers and significant market share.
Check Out Our Breakout Sessions for the Customer Service Revolution Conference
At this year’s Customer Service Revolution conference, we will have breakouts on both days. There will be two sets: 1) General Breakouts and 2) Senior Executive Leader Breakouts.
The High Performer’s 5 Step Playbook for Playing OFFENSE
Join High-Performance Coach Brett Eaton as he reveals the 5 essential steps to living on your terms and playing offense in every facet of your life. In this session, Brett will challenge conventional definitions of success and guide you to define your own unique path to achievement and profound fulfillment. It’s time to break free from outdated notions and align your success with your true aspirations and values.
Living a Boundless Life
In his breakout sessions, speaker and best-selling author Andy Bailey will introduce participants to the Boundless Journal & Guide, and take them through foundational exercises, such as, “Where does distraction come from? How do you maximize your focus to create additional productivity? And what is your current state, Your Now?” to set the stage to develop the skills they’ll need in creating their actionable personal Boundless plan. The audience will leave with their own Boundless Journal which they can use to follow the steps toward living a boundless life.
The Employee Experience Revolution
Dave Murray will share with you how to become the best professional decision of your employees’ lives. This content comes from the new book John and Dave co-authored titled The Employee Experience Revolution, coming out in 2024. The “Great Resignation”, “Quiet Quitting”, and “Cancel Culture” are not indictments on employees, but rather, business leaders’ lack of focus on truly caring for the people who are under their command. Today’s employees are more selective than ever regarding who they will work for; they are insisting that companies and their leaders help them live the right life. That is how you build a world-class culture.
From Boomers to Zoomers: A Survival Guide to Leading Gen Zers
Join Cal DiJulius who will share a first-hand account of this burgeoning generation that’s set to dominate the labor market. Comprising over a third of the global population and more than a quarter of the U.S. populace, Gen Z is on track to soon surpass Millennials as the most populous and diverse generation ever. But it’s not just their numbers that matter; it’s the paradigm-shifting influence they’re set to have on technology, careers, politics, and organizational culture. In this illuminating breakout session, Cal will help you understand the unique behaviors, attitudes, and preferences of his generation. He will debunk common myths and stereotypes, replacing them with data-driven insights and actionable strategies.
Turn Angry Customers into Brand Evangelists
Nicole Paul will share the secrets that the best customer experience companies use to turn disappointed customers into brand evangelists. One of the key characteristics of the top customer experience brands in the world is that they are ‘Zero Risk’ to do business with. A Zero Risk business isn’t one that never makes mistakes; every excellent customer service company drops the ball from time to time. The secret to what makes these top brands Zero Risk lies in their customer service training; specifically, how well they have trained their employees to make it right when things do go wrong. In other words, Zero Risk means peace of mind for the customer.
Deliver a World-Class Experience on a Limited Budget
Customer Experience Coaches, Antoinette Kula, Brad Dick, and Frank Favaro will be doing two breakout sessions on How to Deliver a World-Class Experience on a Limited Budget. This breakout session is perfect for small to mid-size companies that want to dramatically improve the customer experience they deliver at little cost. These experienced CX Coaches will share best practices they have used to help their clients have incredible results. There will also be Q&A time in these sessions. You can submit questions now so Antoinette, Brad, and Frank can better customize their breakouts for what exactly you need.
Ask Me Anything
John DiJulius will be doing one breakout session at this year’s Customer Service Revolution conference, “Ask Me Anything”. This breakout session allows you to ask the world’s leading authority on world-class customer experience anything you want, on ANY topic, customer experience, employee experience, leadership, life balance, parenting, positive mindset, literally anything you want. You can submit questions now for John.
CXEA Alumni
Current students and alumni of the Customer eXperience Executive Academy come together and share their progress, best practices, and opportunities.
Q&A with LaQuita Cleare
Prior to her breakout session for senior leadership, LaQuita Cleare will have just completed a keynote on main stage regarding the power of storytelling. Now as a senior leader, you can ask LaQuita questions on how you can be a better communicator and storyteller.
What Does My Life Look Like in 10 years?
Andy Bailey learned to build great organizations by building his own great businesses, starting in college then, growing into an Inc. 500 multi-million-dollar national company then successfully selling and exiting. He founded Petra Coach to pass on to other entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders the principles and practices he used to build his successful enterprises.
Q&A with Anne Mahlum
Prior to her breakout session for senior leadership, Anne Mahlum will have just completed a keynote on main stage. You can ask Anne, now a senior leader, questions on anything. Anne has started, built, and sold several organizations including [solidcore], growing it into one of the country’s most successful boutique fitness companies. In just nine years, Anne raised more than $70M to grow [solidcore] to over 90 locations across the U.S. Anne is currently the Executive Chairwoman at [solidcore], which now has over 1,000 employees and more than 100,000 clients.
Don’t miss The 2023 Customer Service Revolution Conference is Oct 11-12
Episode 128 of the CSRev Podcast
Learning to Live Life on Your Own Terms
Chief Revolution Officer John DiJulius of The DiJulius Group talks to Bronkar Lee, entertainer, performer, & motivational speaker. Bronkar’s unique background includes touring Europe as ringmaster to a world-renowned circus, appearing with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, starring in a Super Bowl commercial, and performing at Madison Square Garden. He beatboxed with his son in a viral video that received over 200 Million views, and he’s also presented at over 5,000 live events for companies such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Keller Williams, and Disney Cruise Lines.
You will learn:
- How Bronkar went from a fat child to being the star performer he is today
- How to deal with your inner voice
- Where thoughts go, energy flows
- What the 5G Network is
- What Bronkar will be presenting at the Customer Service Revolution Conference
