In the old days – and even in modern times – if a customer wanted help or support, they picked up the phone and called for help. A (hopefully) friendly and competent customer service professional, also known as an agent or representative, would answer the question or resolve the problem.
Today there are many ways to connect with a company. There’s the traditional phone call, email, messaging, instant chat, social channels like Twitter and Facebook, and many more. But there’s one mode of communication and customer support that hasn’t been talked about much. My prediction is that it will not only become popular, but a recognized standard that customers will come to expect. What I’m referring to is the concept of predictive customer support.
My simple definition of predictive customer support is that the customer gets the support not only before they know they need it, but before the problem ever occurs