Customers have high expectations. They know the technology marketers have at their fingertips and expect them to use it.
In the last two years, customer expectations have increased, along with a greater emphasis on the customer experience and, naturally, on customer service. How has customer service changed in the last two years, and how are brands approaching it with improved technology and a more personalized connection?
“Obsessing with understanding the customer should be the goal of every company,” said Tomas Gorny, CEO of Nextiva, a provider of telephone services for businesses. “Knowing that the better a company understands its customers, the better it can deliver a superior customer experience, and that’s what customers want.”
“This superior service results in a more seamless customer experience that reduces customer churn,” added Gorny. “The best way to create that experience is not to compare your company to the competition, but to provide the best possible experience for customers, regardless of industry. We live in an era where the customer comes first. Customer expectations have never been higher, and while companies hear more from customers, they understand less.”
Personalized customer service
John Nash, director of marketing and strategy for global red dot, spoke with CMSWire about the ways customer service has changed. Nash said the last two years have put customer service in the spotlight, especially when it comes to personalization and automation. “Today’s customers have higher expectations than ever; they know that brands have the technology tools to automate and personalize many aspects of customer service, and they expect it to.
citing the harris survey Commissioned by Redpoint, Nash said, “39% of customers surveyed said they won’t do business with any company that doesn’t offer a personalized experience.” Additionally, the recent State of the Verint Digital Customer Experience The survey revealed that 64% of consumers have switched to a competitor after having a bad customer experience. The value of exceptional customer service cannot be stressed enough.
Just as a brand website presents customers with a personalized experience (it recognizes previous purchases, points to relevant products, and already knows their name, address, and contact information), customers expect customer service experiences to be highly personalized as well. .
“The brands that have been successful in the last two years (and continue to be successful now) are largely those that prioritize personalization at scale, adapting to the fact that consumers are now increasingly in control of their experiences. , your data, and more. And expect a high degree of personalization,” Nash said. “The ability to deliver that kind of personalized customer service across all of a brand’s channels seamlessly and in real time requires the use of technology that unifies all data throughout the customer journey.”
Related Article: Improving Your One-on-One Personalization Efforts
Customer service is omnichannel
The omnichannel customer experience requires customer service data to be accessible across all channels of a brand, minimizing or eliminating pain points in the customer journey. For example, there is rarely something as frustrating as repeating information, either verbally to a customer service agent or through a web form. In fact, having to repeat the information listed in the The 5 most frustrating things They ruin the customer experience.
“Consumers now expect brands to provide access to information and support/service anytime, anywhere and on any channel,” said Ravi Sundararajan, COO of Gupshup, a conversational messaging platform. “Omnichannel customer service delivery has therefore become the number one business priority and a key differentiator for brands. In addition, empathy, personalization, speed and convenience are defining the modern service experience.” to the client”.
Personalization can be effectively combined with conversational AI to deliver customer service that excites, rather than frustrates, customers.
“Using conversational AI, we see many companies taking a hyper-personalized approach to automating customer service/support, with real-time interactivity and feedback management,” said Sundararajan. “This is helping brands transform customer service into a richer, more contextual and individual experience for each consumer.
“With AI-enabled intelligent voice/chat bots as frontline customer service agents, coupled with the ability to seamlessly transition complex inquiries to a live/human agent, businesses are getting better and better at delivering natural, human-like customer service experiences through advanced automation.”
Actions speak louder than words
Today’s customers aren’t interested in the hot air of the brands they do business with. Feedback from a brand is helpful, but actions carry more weight and show that a brand really cares about its customers.
“Recently, customers have put more emphasis on seeing a company in action,” said David Sholkovitz, director of marketing for star technology, a provider of IT and A/V accessories. “If they have a complaint, they want it resolved instead of listening to the brand saying they saw their complaint.”
“In response to this,” Sholkovitz continued, “we have adopted a new process with our customer support team. The team provides post-interaction customer satisfaction surveys and then responds directly to customers with a description of the actions they take.” we’re taking in response to survey feedback. This not only creates a feedback loop with the customer, but also ensures they have the answers they need. It also creates a sense of community and appreciation when they realize that their Comments were received and taken into consideration.
Today’s consumer recognizes that they can do business at any time of the day or night. The “always connected client”, therefore, expects brands to be available at 3 am on Sundays.
Speaking about these round-the-clock operations, Sholkovitz said, “Customer service teams have had to make a shift to embrace new technology and ensure customers get answers, even after hours. Start a community forum on line or a user group where customers can troubleshoot and receive answers/information has been a success in our business because it has allowed after-hours help, personalized connection and fostered a good feeling with others.”
Related article: How IoT, Automotive and SmartTV are changing the digital customer experience
Self-service provides customer satisfaction and problem resolution
A CGS reporta global provider of business applications, business learning and outsourcing services, revealed that customers prefer to handle more tasks themselves that are traditionally handled by professionals.
It’s not that customers just want to solve their problems themselves. What they really want is convenience and speed. For example, when it comes to customer service, customers want solutions to their problems or answers to their questions. Also, they don’t want to work very hard to do it, nor do they want to spend a lot of time on the task. A super office studio indicated that 88% of customers want a response from customer service within 60 minutes, while 30% expect a response within 15 minutes.
James Brown, CEO of Smart communicationsa customer conversation management platform, told CMSWire that customers have become more comfortable engaging with brands across a variety of digital channels and prefer brands to give them the ability to find a solution to their problems on their own. themselves.
“The balance of power has shifted from businesses to consumers who now expect exceptional digital experiences from every business they interact with, and that includes bypassing the call center in favor of self-service opportunities that are more convenient,” he explained. Brown. “Customers now expect personalized two-way conversations through their preferred channels. If these experiences are not tailored to a customer’s individual needs, it leads to frustration and distrust in the business.”
Although improving the customer experience is a top priority for most brands, digital transformation can be a daunting process that requires brands to be deeply engaged and have a plan of action, Brown said. “Using technology to enhance and connect consumer touchpoints will have a significant impact on customer satisfaction, increase renewal rates and drive more revenue. By leveraging technology integrations and intelligence, businesses can transform digitally transform the way they collect customer information and deliver more engaging conversations that enhance the overall customer experience, inspire trust and transparency, and streamline business operations.”
final thoughts
Today’s customers are tired after having lived through the worst pandemic of their lives and they don’t want to hear commonplaces from brands when they have problems, they want solutions.
Consumers expect personalized attention across all channels from a brand and expect the same quality experience whether they are in a physical store, on a website, using an app or calling customer service on the phone. . Additionally, today’s customers expect speed, convenience, and ease of use, and brands should help them by providing self-service capabilities.
Reference-www.cmswire.com