COVID-19 hasn’t just changed how contact centres operate — it’s changed what customers expect from them. Eight months into the pandemic, some patterns are becoming clear.
Customers are more stressed. Economic uncertainty, health anxiety, and the disruption of normal life have raised the baseline emotional temperature of customer interactions. Agents who were already good at de-escalation are finding those skills more in demand than ever.
Customers are more digital. The acceleration of digital adoption means more customers are comfortable with online and app-based self-service for routine transactions. But it also means more customers who have recently become digital and who need more support than experienced digital users.
Customers are less tolerant of poor service. This might seem counterintuitive given that many organisations have experienced service degradation during the pandemic. But research consistently shows that customers who have experienced genuinely excellent service — even in a crisis — have higher expectations. The bar has been raised by the best performers.
What This Means for Contact Centres
The contact centres that are thriving in the post-COVID environment are those that have adapted to these changed customer expectations:
They’ve invested in agent wellbeing and resilience, recognising that agents who are managing their own COVID-related stress can’t sustainably provide empathetic customer service without support.
They’ve upgraded their digital and AI capabilities to handle the increased volume of simple digital enquiries, freeing agents for the more complex and emotional interactions.
They’ve maintained or improved service standards rather than using COVID as an excuse for reduced performance. This is harder, but it’s the foundation for maintaining client relationships and winning new ones.
The post-COVID contact centre is more technically capable, more human where it needs to be human, and more resilient. That’s the direction we’re all heading.
