Commentary: The customer service slump

Customer service is at an all-time low.

With cost increases, low wages, and inflation, quality customer service is almost extinct. During the coronavirus years, consumers were driven into a spending frenzy due to fear of losing out on merchandise. Full prices were paid for vehicles, bicycles, RVs, computers, and other goods.

Gone were the days when customer service workers relied on smiles and charm to coax a sale or a bigger tip. Since consumers were willing to pay the price, those in sales didn’t have to make much of an effort, and even though the frenzy has settled, the lack of quality customer service remains.

Quantity over quality

Companies seem to value quantity over quality, now more than ever. Putting out as much product as possible, as fast as possible, appears to be the goal of late.

“In the pursuit of scalability and efficiency, some companies have sacrificed the quality of customer interactions. Automated responses and scripted replies may save time and resources, but they often fail to address the unique needs and concerns of individual customers. As a result, customers feel like mere numbers in a database, rather than valued patrons deserving of personalized attention,” wrote Michael E. Donner, a strategic and tactical chief marketing officer at telehealth company Thrivelab, in an article on LinkedIn.

What some companies forget is that taking care of their employees, in addition to the customer, has the potential to generate more revenue. When companies don’t train their employees how to provide high-tier customer service, both the employee and the customer suffer.

Automation and decrease of human interaction

With the increase of automation, physical interaction and effort has decreased. Consumers have become accustomed to online shopping and not needing to work with an actual person. We sit at home on our computers and order everything under the sun without having to talk to anyone.

COVID-19 is to blame for this as well. We were shut in for months and relied on social media and video apps to stay in contact. People complained, but actual face-to-face interaction has decreased significantly, even now, years after quarantine.

According to an article from WBUR: “For American adults, we are spending 30% time less doing face-to-face socializing than we did just 20 years ago. For American teenagers, the decline is … just over 45%, so almost 50%.”

This affects the quality of customer service because people in sales now expect to be interacting with people less, and companies don’t expend as much on training them.

Lack of proper training

Employee training has declined and could be a contributing factor to the decrease in the quality of service. If the employee doesn’t know what they’re doing, it affects how they serve their customers.

A blog from 360training.com makes this point. It reads: “When employees lack the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources to perform their jobs, productivity, and efficiency can suffer. This can lead to a decrease in overall performance and quality of work. Insufficient knowledge and training can cause reduced performance levels, leading to decreased profits for the organization. This can significantly affect customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.”

More for less and the tipping point

The new generation seems to want more for less. When I was a server and a bartender, I worked hard for my tips. I typically made a couple dollars an hour for a wage, so I relied on the tips. If you go anywhere these days, people want tips just because they’re there.

Recently, I was at a self-serve yogurt shop in Moab. I made a large cup of yogurt with various toppings and when I approached the counter to pay, the girl working the register, who was sitting on a chair scrolling on her phone, slid the tip jar toward me while making full eye contact. I slid the jar back and paid for the yogurt.

The expectation of tipping has reached ludicrous proportions. According to NPR, the pressure to tip, “tipflation,” and “guilt tipping” has reached an all-time high.

In the article, NPR contributing writer Stacey Vanek Smith writes that “… during the pandemic, we started tipping people we didn’t use to tip, and we started tipping more than usual as a way to support essential workers at a time of crisis. The pandemic went away … but the tip-spectations didn’t.”

As a result, we have created a negative view toward tipping.

Collective change is necessary

All of these factors play a large role in the customer service slump. Since quality service has declined, the consumer now goes into any transaction with negative expectations, which perpetuates the cycle of poorer and poorer service.

It’s a slippery slope, however, and if we have any hope of avoiding this decline, we must take immediate action, do our part, and change our ways — all of us.