Top Headlines In Customer Contact News This Week | 11/13/2023

Welcome back to our newest series here at CCW Digital, “Top Headlines In CX News This Week,” where we’ll be handpicking and highlighting the most interesting news stories in customer contact and business just for your learning pleasure.

This week we’re taking a look into the future of digital CX, back at some Tax Day predictions, and standing smack dab in the middle of a befuddling example of great customer service in the most unexpected place.

Might want to pull your Twitter Fingers out for this one, because there’s a lot to get through.

Customer Service Is Becoming As Easy As Sending A Text, Literally

In today’s digital-first, connected everywhere omnichannel world, organizations across industries are battling it out to cut through the Internet noise and reach their target audiences.

At a time when customers can call, email, chat and DM for expedited customer service, brands need to walk five steps ahead to even hope to gain their attention. For better or worse everyone is nose deep into their phones, so why not meet them “where they’re at” as we say?

That’s the aim for 69% of organizations planning to increase investment in automated self-service via text message customer service by the end of 2025.

“Texting is an underrepresented customer service channel across many organizations,”

our president here at CMP, Mario Matulich, tells Forbes. As it turns out, SMS is something that some companies are sleeping on…

IRS Customer Service Is Down The Tubes. It Might Just Stay That Way 

Reuters reports that that cash influx we were all counting on to put us out of our Tax Filing Misery might not happen after all. In fact, the Internal Revenue Department’s budget could get even small as Congress considers cutting by $14.5 billion. It might be a good idea to start getting those saved receipts together now, folks.

Cyber Monday And Black Friday CX Are Going Head-to-Head

While the days of waiting in line for your flat screen TV are far, few and in between these days, the battle for saving big on even bigger purchases is raging on in the digital world. There’s before-Black-Friday Black Friday sales already underway, actual Black Friday sales to look out for, Small Business Saturday promos to take advantage of, and Cyber Monday deal extensions to seek out.

Through it all, brick-and-mortar stores and ecommerce retailers and duking it out for the title of best bang for your buck. Luckily, CBS News is taking the guesswork out of your hands and assessing the competition.

The White House Executive Order On AI Might Boost Your Organization’s Innovation 

“President Biden recently issued an Executive Order establishing new standards for artificial intelligence (AI) safety and security, along with measures designed to protect privacy, advance equity, and promote innovation and competition,” reports Forbes. 

In addition to these efforts, 15 organizations that are at the forefront of generative AI in the U.S. have also offered to help the federal government establish and implement these standards as the baseline for all organizations enacting tools like ChatGPT. For the private sector, this means opportunities to amplify CX. You can read the core goals of the Executive Order here. 

Can A Gas Station Really Get A Good CSAT Score?

As we know, the concept of customer service isn’t just relegated to hotels and high-end retail stores. Everything from Wawa to Disney World is under the CX microscope, and one customer has taken the value of customer service to a whole new level.

Reddit user nickipps posted to the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit forum a few backs about a pretty interesting experience he had at a gas station, sharing a feature at the pump that he says is a total pitstop CX game changer. What is this gadget that’s garnered attention from the likes of Yahoo? Check it out here.