Whether you are a small company with a single customer service agent or a large corporation with a support team of dozens (or even hundreds) of executives, we are almost certain that all of them are always very busy.
Customer service is more important today than ever before, and the use of automation helps to deliver world-class service.
Some companies resist automation in this area because they fear that relying on chatbots will impoverish the person-to-person experience. But that fear is unfounded, because, in reality, automation frees your team from working on one or two touch points to enable them to deliver high-quality service that benefits customers at all touch points.
Here are four ways that customer service automation can benefit and even delight your customers.
1. Customer follow-up is expedited.
Seamless omni-channel support is ideal, so know how and when to follow up with your customers.
When your teams contact customers to follow up after a support issue, several things happen:
- Your customers notice that your company cares about whether the problem has been resolved.
- They give them the opportunity to report if there are still problems, something they would not have done without the additional contact.
- Your company has a new opportunity to establish a connection with the customer.
However, follow-up can be difficult: your support team may not have the time or resources to call or email every person they have helped.
The automatic consolidation of multiple communication channels into a single tool can be of great help.
2. You can offer a customized service at scale
If you expect to provide an optimal customer experience (not for nothing do you pride yourself on knowing your customers' needs), personalized service on a large scale may seem almost impossible.
However, you can use automation to consolidate customer information in one place, leaving you time to focus on delivering that personal touch.
For example, you can update contacts in your customer relationship management (CRM) tool with support ticket interactions, or enroll a new customer in a program to answer frequently asked questions.
3. Complex customer concerns can be fully resolved.
Some customer questions or concerns are relatively easy to resolve. If someone needs an update on a shipped package or information on a return policy, for example, these are simple inquiries.
Sometimes, however, customers have complex concerns or problems. Perhaps a customer using your product or service has continually had complex technical problems that need attention, or someone insists that your products have repeatedly arrived damaged.
You may need to tag other team members or escalate the issue to a different team for more complex problems, while keeping your customers at ease. Automation can help you send tickets to the right teams and summarize the current status for easy handoff.
The more thorough and efficient the management of customer issues, the better, and automation can ensure that nothing is overlooked.
4. Customer service issues are resolved quickly across all platforms.
Today's customer has high expectations across the board, which can directly influence how they perceive their experience with your company. One of those expectations is speed.
According to one study, 90% of consumers want immediate responses (within 10 minutes), and according to another, 48% of consumers expect a response on social networks within 24 hours.
When automation is leveraged, it is easier to meet these expectations.
5. You don't lose sight of the numbers
While putting a numerical score on the assistance provided by your team may sound harsh, it is a transparent tool and lets each team member know how they are doing, in a much more tangible way than a simple "good".
Most customer service applications have built-in metrics trackers, but sometimes you need more customization for your metrics tracking.
Creating an automated process that sends tickets to a spreadsheet or database so you can do your own calculations saves time and makes the overall process easier.
Support your customer service team with automation
Your support team keeps your customers happy, so take care of them too. Process automation helps ease the demands on your customer service team, so they can focus on providing excellent service.
