Every entrepreneur out there knows that customer service represents the embodiment of your company’s performance. You see, your audience is aware of the fact that your public image is a polished brand representation of the scenario in which everything runs flawlessly. On the other hand, how you respond in moments of crisis is what will earn you some customer loyalty, as well as future-proof your organization. All in all, there are several ways in which technology impacts your customer service and how it can be used to improve your business model.
1. More options for communication
Customer support is all about improving the customer experience and the best way to start doing so is to give them a chance to choose a channel of communication they prefer. Some would like to do so via an email, whereas others prefer the IM approach of using a chatbot. Then, there are those who want to know that they’re talking to a real person, which is why they prefer the traditional over-the-phone customer service. Either way, by encompassing all of these options, you’re giving your customers a more holistic service. Needless to say, more and more customer service is taking a mobile-centric approach, seeing as how these devices are quickly becoming the main tool in the user arsenal.
2. Automated customer service
When it comes to customer service automation, the majority of people immediately think that we’re talking about the benefits of having AI handle the job instead of entrusting it to human employees. However, the elimination of human mistake is not the main objective here, this spot goes to the speed of response that your audience cares so deeply about. Think about it, people address customer service when they have a problem and to each person, their own problem is always a priority, no matter how small or insignificant it is, over anyone else’s problem. The way in which mobile apps are handling this situation is, perhaps, the best indicator of how customer service automation can be efficiently enhanced.
3. Improved ways of getting feedback
The biggest problem of using customer service to gather feedback lies in the fact that it usually focuses on all the negative aspects of your business. Keep in mind that while some may believe that getting praised doesn’t do you much good, getting polarized answers gives you a wrong image of your businesses true performance. You also need to hear from all those people who are in between, those who won’t go to write a positive review, nor will call your customer service to complain. Nowadays, you have alternative and reliable ways to get customer feedback. The fact that this can be done via SMS also adds one more channel of communication (something we’ve already discussed).
4. Proactive customer service
Previously, we’ve mentioned the importance of an immediate response; however, what if your customer service was able to contact customers instead of it being the other way around? What if you could address and fix the issue before they even discover its existence? Just think about all the amazing possibilities that would come from this and the image boost that you would receive this way. Also, it would raise the concept of being customer-centric to a whole new level.
5. Self-help systems
While it may be true that your audience wants someone else to handle their problems for them, the truth is that there’s a lot of customers who are more interested in a self-help platform. This doesn’t have to be anything too complex but merely an all-encompassing FAQ page or a thorough YouTube tutorial video. Either way, these self-help systems are something that you can fall back to at all times. Either way, the cost of developing this aspect is fairly insignificant compared to the potential ROI and boost in reputation.
The very last thing you need to bear in mind is the fact that your customer service serves as the voice of your company, same as your website represents its face. In order to create a full image of it as a reliable organization or entity, all of these features need to be in agreement.
Automated customer service is a great way to make sure each and every customer’s issues are addressed. It helps to retain your customers and build a healthy relationship.
Hi,
very nice information thank you for this article.