Why Customer Service Keeps Getting Worse

In marketing and business, as in politics, the truth is often the very opposite of what is commoly said and repeated. A case in point is the mantra of marketing experts that customer service is a growing priority for businesses. Every year, look at the top business trends, and you’ll see some version of what was published in Marketing Insider recently. “World Class Customer Service” tops the list in marketing trends for 2023.

If there’s a glimmer of truth in this, it’s that customers indeed place customer service high on their list of priorities. But this is because customer service is consistently declining and will almost certainly continue to do so in the coming years.

Why the Decline?

The worsening of customer service isn’t due to business owners caring less about customers. Just as ever before, there’s a wide spectrum of attitudes on the part of business owners, ranging from indifferent to conscientious. Most are somewhere in the middle. Because of wider social forces, however, it’s getting to the point that only those at the very extreme “conscientious” end of the spectrum will take the extra effort to ensure that customers are given personalized and thoughtful care.

Economic conditions are forcing businesses to cut back on personnel. Many startups consist of a single person or…