Phone, Fax and Web Chat - The Evolution of Customer Service

If there's one job that will always be in demand, it's customer service. We can automate the production of many products, and Amazon is even toying with automating the delivery of smaller products with drones, but there's one thing that machines can't do as well as humans, and that's provide customer service.

Over the last few decades we've seen a huge amount of innovation in customer service, and today there are a huge number of different ways to contact businesses:

• Letters
• Telephone
• Fax
• Email
• Web forms
• Live chat
• Social Media

In spite of all of those contact options being available, most of us still prefer to pick up the phone. In fact, according to Maintel, who produced this fascinating infographic on modern customer service trends and the ways in which businesses are failing customers, around 79% of consumers prefer to pick up the phone instead of using other contact methods.

Over the last 20-30 years, technology has come a long way, but at the end of the day the most important thing in the customer service equation remains the same - dealing with helpful people.