87% of Indian Consumers Prefer Brands Offering Proactive Engagement Services The bar for service expectations has risen with India leading the way

We often come across people complaining about switching brands due to a bad experience with the customer service. On the contrary, some even revisit stores because they were appeased by the salesperson. Some customers break ties with a product due to their customer representative not responding to queries or not responding at when needed whereas others could, for all you know, be immune to these little inconveniences.

These little details that we ignore hold the power to make or break a brand. More than the product itself, consumers recall the attentiveness, personalization and consideration they were targeted to during purchase. Today's customers have expectations. The well-informed digitally-savvy ones, in particular, want to do business with companies that understand their expectations intimately.

The modern consumers today expect brands to move from a state of "meet my needs' to "anticipate my needs', explained The New Rules of Customer Engagement report by Freshworks. The customer engagement industry is going through rapid change and it is important for brands to understand and anticipate this change before they lose some loyals:

Proactive Engagement

Proactive engagement is opening doors for businesses to interact with prospects and existing customers in a more personalized and intelligent way, with targeted and tailored content based on customer analytics and insights. Customer experience is generally focused on improving effectiveness and ease of use but preventing disloyalty is more important.

"Customers are looking for a more authentic relationship with brands, which requires creating an emotional connection with customers – and you can't do that by focusing only on reducing pain points. The message is clear – rather than trying to "fix" your experience, customer engagement requires brands to recreate their experiences in order to create an emotional connection," said Jim Tincher, CCXP CX Speaker & Advisor, Mapper-in-Chief at "Heart of the Customer'

Immediacy, personalization and convenience have become the key parameters of customers demand experiences. "47per cent of consumers globally have higher customer service expectations from their favourite brands than they had in the last two years," the report suggested. Of course, as proactive takes the lead over reactive support, customer expectations have reached an all-time high.

Automated Engagement

In recent years, the proliferation of mobile devices and social media has changed the way we communicate, allowing customers to choose from an even wider array of channels to interact with brands and companies. Today's customers want the speed and efficiency of automated engagement but also crave the warming art of human empathy and emotional connection.

This influences their choice of the customer service channel. As confidence in using new channels continues to grow, customer expectations increase exponentially. The always-on, always-connected customers of today demand great service experiences on their terms and on channels of their preference, the report mentioned.

"Rather than trying to "fix" your experience, customer engagement requires brands to recreate their experiences in order to create an emotional connection," Tincher further added. In most cases, the difference between an ordinary and exceptional experience lies in the ability to engage customers on their terms and provide consistent, meaningful journeys across all engagement channels.

Contextual Support

Consumers crave contextual engagement, saving them from the frustration of having to repeat themselves. Waiting long enough before receiving any resolution to the issue, the difficulty in contacting a customer service representative, switching between multiple of them and then coming across ones who lack knowledge are the major pain points brands should work to address.

70 per cent of customers globally prefer brands that provide service across multiple channels. The rise in multichannel touchpoints has greatly complicated the end-to-end customer journey, especially with the increased use of mobile devices. Yet, customers expect consistent and personalized experiences—no matter which channel they use.

The surge in self-service and social network has further intensified consumer demands. No longer just an important option for millennials, social channels is gradually becoming a standard for all demographics. In fact, 46 per cent of consumers globally currently use social networks to rant or rave about their recent service experiences.

Take a look at the following infographic to understand the new rules of customer engagement in 2019, based on Freshworks report: