The original version of this article framed five customer service ideas as trends for 2023. This refreshed guide keeps that historical topic and asks a more useful question: how should a store evaluate those ideas now? It is not a new forecast for 2023 or evidence that adopting a trend will automatically increase sales.
1. AI support: test the outcome, not the label
Begin with a small set of recurring questions and the approved information needed to answer them. Then test variations: an ambiguous request, an unavailable product, an exception to the return policy and a customer asking for a person. An automated answer is useful when it is correct and moves the request forward.
Separate answering from taking action. Explaining a cancellation policy is different from cancelling an order in a connected system. Our AI agents and chatbots comparison explains how to evaluate those capabilities without relying on the product label.
2. Channel continuity: keep the handoff understandable
A customer who moves from chat to email should not need to reconstruct the entire problem. Decide what the receiving agent needs: the question, order reference, steps already attempted and the next promised update. Confirm which of your systems actually share that context.
Run a handoff yourself. Start an inquiry in one channel, escalate it and read the receiving view. A connected inbox alone does not prove that the correct customer and conversation were linked. If your tools do not share context automatically, document the manual handoff until that gap is addressed.
3. Self-service: answer the question customers have
Build help content from recurring requests rather than a long list of topics you assume customers need. A delivery page should explain how to find tracking, what a particular status means and what to do when the expected date passes. Give each answer an owner and review it when the underlying policy changes.
Check whether people who use the resource still contact support about the same issue. That distinguishes a useful answer from a page that merely received views. Use first-contact resolution exercises to identify missing information and unclear next steps.
4. Personalization: use relevant context
The best starting point is often the information needed for the current request: the correct order, selected product or previously attempted fix. Remembering a name does little if the reply ignores the problem. Verify identity before showing account-specific details and give agents a way to correct mismatched context.
For example, a replacement inquiry should reference the affected item and the approved replacement process. It should not become an unrelated recommendation merely because purchase history is available.
5. Proactive updates: communicate an actual event
Choose an event that your systems can reliably detect, such as a confirmed fulfillment delay. Define the affected audience, the message and the owner of follow-up questions. Test that customers do not receive repeated notices for the same event or a reassuring message after the situation has changed.
Measure the questions that remain after the update. A notice that says only “there is a delay” may still leave every customer asking when they will hear more. Include the next known step and an update time your team can meet.
Turn a theme into a small operating improvement
Choose one recurring issue, document today's handling and test the proposed change against realistic examples. Track support KPIs by issue type so a faster response does not hide more repeat contacts. If you are evaluating Chad, bring those examples to the conversation and confirm the knowledge, integrations and escalation path needed for your store.
