To guarantee that consumers go back and purchase from the business again, you have to make them walk away happy. Nowadays, efficient customer service is a form of marketing. People who are satisfied with a transaction tend to become repeat customers. Moreover, they become ambassadors who recommend the business to their family and friends.
However, as a business grows, ensuring that every single customer walks away happy becomes more challenging. A small team can only do so much. You would have to expand the staff to ensure that there will always be someone who attends to the needs of the customers.
Better yet, businesses should adopt new technologies to improve their customer service.
Technology Makes Customers Happy
For years, businesses have been employing artificial intelligence to assist customer service representatives. While AI chatbots are not sophisticated enough yet to understand the nuances of human speech, they can provide pre-programmed answers to the commonly asked questions or, simply, reassure customers that their message has been received.
AI chatbots can respond to consumers immediately at all times of the day, even outside of office hours. A swift reply is often enough to pacify an angry or agitated customer until a human customer service representative is available to speak to them.
The use of AI chatbots has improved customer satisfaction. Moreover, it is saving companies the cost of hiring additional staff, and reducing the workload of customer service representatives.
But, it can still be improved. The future of customer service involves customization.
The next time a custom interacts with a business, the agent can pull up a profile that reveals previous transactions and calls to the service. It can take note of problems that the customer had raised before. This way, the customer and the agent would not have to go through the entire process over and over again.
Customers want and expect customized service. After all, they are aware that their data is being collected by every business they interact with. Despite the dangers of data breaches, more people are willing to share their data if it means customer service will be improved.
A recent report revealed that, between 2019 and 2020, privacy concerns among consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom declined by 61 percent and 69 percent respectively. Only 12 percent of consumers believe that companies should collect as little data as possible in 2020, a steep drop from 28 percent the year before.
In exchange, 76 percent of consumers expect a personalized experience, including preferred contact methods and recommendations based on previous purchases. The majority of consumers also want companies to collaborate internally, so they never have to repeat their requests or questions.
However, too few businesses have resisted providing white-glove services because of the belief that it is too expensive, but the investment is worth it. Companies should discuss the development of a platform that will enable customized customer service with DevOps consulting services.
Here are the benefits of personalized customer service.
More Efficient Customer Service
So much time and resources can be saved when customer service representatives can access information, including previous engagements and purchases, about individual customers. They can discuss the customer’s concerns immediately, not on clarifying details that the company already knows or has a record of.
The sooner the agent can address the customer’s concern, the faster the call or chat can end. The customer will feel satisfied with the experience. Meanwhile, the agent can speak to more people throughout the day.
Personalized service makes the process more convenient for customers and agents.
Proactively Resolve Issues
Keeping track of common customer complaints allows companies to send a fix before more people notices and calls the contact center. It is the same as a laptop or a smartphone detecting errors and sending reports automatically to the manufacturer, allowing the manufacturer to send a patch remotely and quietly.
Being proactive at resolving issues that arise frequently will reduce the number of calls that reach the company. Agents will not be overwhelmed by the number of concerned customers who all need to be told the exact same thing.
Moreover, the customer will be more satisfied with the product if the issues can be fixed before they file a complaint.
Customers want to give their hard-earned money to businesses that will go over and beyond to give them the best shopping experience. When they engage with a business, they want a prompt response and their concerns to be immediately addressed. The use of technology can help improve customer service, including after-sales.
