How COVID-19 Radically Reshaped Customer Service (& Where We Go From Here)

The COVID-19 pandemic upended business as usual in nearly every industry—perhaps none more so than customer service. Widespread lockdowns and economic uncertainty in 2020 led to unprecedented spikes in support requests. At the same time, service teams had to rapidly shift to remote work while managing increasingly stressed customers.

Two years later, customer expectations and service delivery look radically different than they did pre-pandemic. And many of the changes are likely permanent.

To help customer service leaders navigate the "new normal", we asked six industry experts to weigh in on the biggest impacts of COVID-19 on customer service, how top companies have adapted, and what the future holds. Here‘s what they had to say.

Customer Service by the Numbers: Quantifying COVID-19‘s Impact

Just how big of an impact did the pandemic have on customer service? Let‘s look at some key statistics:

• Over 90% increase in average monthly ticket volume between March 2020 and August 2021 (HubSpot)
• 1 in 3 companies saw customer requests increase by 25% or more, while 6 in 10 saw increases of at least 10% (Freshworks)
• Difficult customer conversations increased 250% from February to May 2020, including 365% growth in calls scored as "difficult" or "very difficult" (CallMiner)
• 78% of service reps said the pandemic made their jobs more stressful, and 68% reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion (ICMI)
• Hold times increased by 34%, with over 50% of companies reporting hold times longer than 10 minutes (Replicant)

These numbers paint a clear picture: customer service teams faced unprecedented pressure as a result of COVID-19. And according to our experts, the impacts were felt in five key areas:

1. Shift to Remote Service Delivery

One of the most immediate impacts of the pandemic was the widespread shift to remote work. In April 2020, 70% of call centers switched to work-from-home operations (ICMI).

Remote service delivery introduced multiple challenges, as Takeaki Fujita, Team Lead at HubSpot Berlin‘s Customer Support, explains:

"Customer-facing teams were on the frontline for managing customer frustrations, which can be stressful to manage. Without teammates ‘on the floor‘ for guidance, support escalations can increase if the rep feels stuck with no one to turn to for help, slowing down resolution times."

The isolation and lack of "in-office" camaraderie also took a toll on service reps‘ mental health and engagement. Kevan Gammage of Brandwatch saw this firsthand:

"Burnout has been a constant threat in our world. We do our best to avoid it by encouraging our reps to take advantage of unlimited vacation. We have to continue to be creative about connecting the team in a remote environment."

2. Rapidly Evolving Customer Needs

As businesses scrambled to adapt to pandemic restrictions, customers turned to service teams for information and reassurance. The types of support customers needed shifted rapidly, requiring immense agility from service teams.

Kirsten Gudmundson, Microsoft‘s Worldwide Support Leader, puts it this way:

"During the pandemic, our customers‘ needs were evolving at warp speed as many had to quickly go through a digital transformation to stay relevant. It was imperative that we actively listened and adjusted our offerings to meet new customer demands."

Many companies saw massive increases in requests related to health & safety, delivery delays, remote work setup, and financial assistance. Fatima Sbeih, Director of Customer Success at Beautiful.ai, saw this play out:

"As a remote collaboration tool, new users adopted Beautiful.ai early in the pandemic as they transitioned to working from home. As a result, customer support requests nearly doubled, leading to longer response times and adjusting priority levels for support tickets."

3. Greater Need for Empathy

With emotions running high, service interactions became more fraught during the pandemic. Customers dealing with health concerns, job losses, and other stressors were quicker to get frustrated. According to CallMiner, 68% of service reps dealt with at least one instance of shouting or extreme profanity from March to June 2020.

In this environment, empathy became a critical service skill. As Natalie Alexis of Moz describes:

"Early on, we saw an increase in customers seeking help for their businesses to survive. To better assist those dealing with the impact of the pandemic, we aimed to lead with more empathy in our interactions—this brought a sense of camaraderie with our customers."

Amidst the uncertainty and isolation of lockdowns, a little extra patience and compassion from service reps went a long way. A Salesforce survey found that 71% of consumers valued businesses that showed empathy during the pandemic.

4. Accelerated Digital Transformation

With in-person channels restricted, the pandemic accelerated the shift towards digital customer service. Use of live chat, social media, messaging apps, and other digital channels spiked as customers sought contactless ways to get help:

• Gartner found that over 70% of customer interactions in 2020 occurred on digital channels, up from 58% in 2019
• Zendesk saw use of its live chat and social messaging tools increase by over 110% and 140% respectively in 2020
• UJET reported a 56% jump in customer preference for text communication with businesses in 2020

As Fatima Sbeih notes, this digital shift had some upsides:

"Customers became more comfortable with communication tools like Zoom and Google Meet, enabling easier remote support assistance."

However, it also put pressure on companies to rapidly scale up their digital capabilities and provide a seamless experience across channels.

5. Rising Importance of AI & Automation

Facing surging ticket volumes and longer holds times, more companies turned to artificial intelligence and automation to help manage the load.

Common applications included:

• Chatbots for immediate answers to routine questions. 69% of consumers interacted with a chatbot at least once in 2020 (Tidio).
• AI-powered knowledge bases to help customers self-serve. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of enterprises will combine human and AI to deliver customer service.
• Robotic process automation (RPA) to handle repetitive back-office service tasks. RPA market growth accelerated by 20% in 2020 (Gartner).

While some customers are still wary of bots, attitudes are warming up. Over 60% now say they‘re comfortable handling simple requests with bots (Hubspot). The key is using AI to enhance rather than replace the human experience.

How Top Companies Adapted to the New Normal

The companies that fared best during the pandemic were those that quickly evolved their service strategies and tactics to meet the moment. Common adaptations included:

1. Implementing New Tools & Processes

With reps working remotely, ensuring they had the right setup to serve customers was priority #1.

Solutions included:

• Cloud contact center platforms to enable reps to take calls from home
• Collaboration tools like Slack and Zoom to keep remote teams connected
• Remote access to key systems and information to minimize disruption

HubSpot‘s Takeaki Fujita describes his team‘s approach:

"Empowering reps with recurring virtual support and proactive coaching was critical to enabling effective, personalized interactions. Championing transparency and keeping communication channels open also helped reps share knowledge in a remote environment."

2. Flexing Policies & Offerings

Maintaining rigid policies during a global crisis is a recipe for alienating customers. The most successful companies gave their service teams the flexibility to make exceptions and "say yes" more.

Common policy changes included:

• Waiving fees for cancellations, returns, and late payments
• Extending grace periods before service shutoffs
• Offering deferred payment plans for customers in financial distress
• Expanding or customizing offerings to better meet customers‘ pandemic needs

As Kirsten Gudmundson of Microsoft puts it:

"By making it easy for customers to get support and proactively providing services, we gave customers peace of mind, which allowed them to focus on pivoting their own businesses during this critical time."

3. Doubling Down on Digital

With digital channels becoming the default, top companies moved quickly to enhance their digital service capabilities.

This included:

• Launching or expanding live chat, social media support, and messaging channels
• Unifying customer data to provide a seamless omnichannel experience
• Beefing up online knowledge bases and self-service options
• Using AI chatbots to provide immediate answers to common questions

Natalie Alexis of Moz notes that this digital acceleration is likely to stick:

"Customer service has been, and will continue to be, successful in remote and hybrid environments. Work-from-home flexibility, retention, productivity, and work-life balance will continue to see improvements."

4. Prioritizing Employee Well-Being

With stress and burnout rampant among service reps, the best companies recognized that taking care of employees was just as important as taking care of customers.

Strategies included:

• Staffing up to better handle increased volume and prevent overwork
• Offering mental health resources and support programs
• Encouraging use of PTO and mental health days
• Fostering psychological safety and a culture of empathy internally

As Kevan Gammage of Brandwatch notes, supporting his team‘s well-being is an ongoing challenge and priority:

"We have to continue to be creative about connecting the team and heading off burnout. Giving reps self-development time to work on more personal projects or get mentoring is one tactic that‘s working for us."

The Future of Customer Service: Trends to Watch

So what‘s next for customer service as we move into the post-pandemic era? Our experts predict these five trends will define the next chapter:

1. Sky-High Customer Expectations

If there‘s one thing that‘s certain, it‘s that there‘s no going back to a pre-pandemic "normal" when it comes to customer expectations. The bar has permanently shifted up for speed, convenience, empathy, and flexibility.

As Kirsten Gudmundson says, "expectations of customers will still be high, but reps should expect to have even more touchpoints with customers" across an expanding range of digital and self-service options.

2. Hybrid Service Is Here to Stay

While digital channels have become dominant, traditional phone support remains essential—especially for complex or high-emotion issues. Going forward, top service organizations will take a hybrid approach: combining AI-powered digital support with human agents for a seamless "best of both worlds" experience.

3. Employee Experience Is the New Battleground

With "The Great Resignation" in full swing, attracting and retaining skilled service talent is more important than ever. We‘ll see more companies prioritize the agent experience with better tools, more development opportunities, greater autonomy, and a culture of empathy.

4. Shift from Reactive to Proactive

To get ahead of surging ticket volumes, more companies will embrace proactive service: monitoring data signals to identify and resolve issues before customers even have to ask.

We‘ll see wider adoption of tactics like monitoring brand mentions on social media, using analytics to predict customers at risk of churn, and sending proactive updates about potential service disruptions.

5. Deeper Integration of Service and CX

The pandemic crystalized the importance of customer service as a key driver of overall customer experience and loyalty. We‘ll see a deeper integration of service metrics and insights with holistic CX strategies.

Successful companies will break down silos between service and other functions like marketing, sales, and product. They‘ll prioritize service-driven growth: using service interactions as opportunities to deepen relationships, gather insights, and drive revenue.

Embracing Opportunity Amidst Disruption

The customer service function was deeply disrupted by the pandemic—and is still finding its footing in the "new normal". But our experts agree: from crisis comes opportunity.

Service leaders who embrace change, experiment with new approaches, and put customers and employees at the center of their strategies will emerge stronger than before. As Alnaica Augustave, Customer Specialist at HubSpot, puts it:

"COVID-19 has had an impact on customer service, particularly in the way of working and interacting with customers to have open communication and listening. We have adjusted our infrastructure and increased our empathy during this period to reduce customer frustration and anxiety."

By leading with compassion, agility, and a commitment to innovation, customer service can be a powerful source of competitive advantage in an uncertain world. The playbook has been rewritten—it‘s time to embrace the possibilities.