If you receive a high volume of customer requests every day and it outperforms your team’s ability to resolve these requests. Automated customer service will be able to solve questions and free up resources for your support team. Gone are the days when customer service was a one-on-one interaction between a consumer and a business.
Today, the technology-savvy consumer receives a plethora of automated support options available to them- from email autoresponders, to live chat on company websites, to social media channels. Pretty much every consumer prefers an automated service over a human service agent. Why? Because it is faster, more efficient and offers prime quality solutions more often. If that isn’t convincing enough, then keep reading for more reasons why businesses should transition some of their customer service operations from being human-driven to being automated.
What Is Automated Customer Service?
Automated customer service is a process that uses AI-based tools like chatbots, live chat, help desk and many others to make sure that no query or question goes unanswered. It uses a combination of Machine Learning, narrow AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate the process. In other words, automated customer service uses smart tools to perform simple or complex tasks to increase efficiency and scale support without sacrificing quality. In this new world where customer service is an integral part of business operations, automated customer service has come up as a way out from the overload of work.
Here are some reasons that will help you understand why automation is what matters the most in the future:
Reduces customer service costs: According to IBM, chatbots can save call centres up to $1 million in annual costs by 2022. Mckinsey also states that businesses that use automation to provide customer experience can save up to 40% on service costs. Businesses spend a lot on support operators by doing the hiring, investing in equipment, training, salaries and other programs, hence it affects the cost in more than one way. Automated customer service reduces the need for new hires and new expenses and offers to focus on delivering satisfying results to customers. Automated customer service also streamlines processes such as verifying information, handling frequently asked questions, and even generating and sending paystubs, further reducing the workload on support operators and enhancing overall efficiency.
Faster response time: According to Forrester, three-quarters of consumers say that speed is the single most important factor for a great customer service experience. And that kind is only possible by using automated customer service. With automation, companies can meet customer expectations by answering their queries within seconds. A well-trained bot can be used to serve the same purpose to provide a great experience by delivering accurate and quick responses to the customers.
Few human errors: Automation helps in reducing human errors by analysing input and learning from previous conversations. Customers prefer to get their queries resolved quickly and correctly. The ability to learn from previous conversations makes automated customer service better and more accurate with results with the help of AI and machine learning. Even the most experienced human member of the support team can make mistakes but automation can help to cut out errors and thereby saving businesses lots of money.
Aligns with preferences of a modern consumer: Northridge Group reports that the youth grasps the communication channels external to placing a phone call to collect support. Most of the Gen-Z and Millennials are increasingly affluent in finding solutions to their problems themselves. It is stated that they are familiar with online knowledge bases, FAQ’s, webchats, virtual assistants and social media messaging. Automation today is very vital. If you don’t offer automated customer service, you’re limiting the level of service you can provide to savvy customers.
Centralizes information: To keep things organised and in one place a CRM platform is necessary. It makes it possible to centralise all your customer information, including contact information, transaction history, self-service interactions, viewed content and more. Putting together CRM with automation works as a virtual phone system providing a more holistic view to customers. With the help of Support Agents, one can access real-time customer data ahead of incoming calls, emails or web chats. This will just be a matter of seconds for your customer service team to view this information. They can transmit a brilliant customer experience without navigating a myriad of tools, tabs or spreadsheets.
Increase support team collaboration: There are some queries that are very simple and repetitive and don’t need the attention of human employees. That’s where automation comes to help lighten the load of the support team. It increases team collaboration and eliminates the chances of confusion. When the work is combined with automation, it improves the workflows and quickly resolves all customer queries. Automated customer service can take care of high-volume, low-value queries, leaving more complex tasks to the support staff.
Provides 24/7 support: Imagine if your customers were able to contact you anytime, no matter what time of the day or night it is. Now imagine this type of customer service working around the clock to help businesses with any query. It’s like having a real human that is always ready to help. This is a reality now with automated customer support that is powered by artificial intelligence. Customers expect companies to be available at all times, automation makes it possible for a brand to be available and responsive. For instance, Digite offers 24/7 online chat and email support to help its customers across the world.
Provides Consistent tone of customer approach: Automated customer service with chatbots is the best way to boost your company’s productivity and, of course, make clients happy. These bot apps offer a consistent tone of customer approach, whenever customers decide to reach out. What is more, you can operate customer service 24/7 without extra human resources. The message that comes out of the machine is processed in a scientific manner to help in providing consistency in the tone of approach across clients.
The use of chatbots in recent times has become a trend that almost every business is trying to adopt. It enables businesses to provide a real-time response to a customer’s query. Unlike humans, chatbots are capable of handling repetitive and predictable tasks with efficiency and precision. These can easily handle basic human interaction and respond to users with pre-programmed answers as well as questions. If you haven’t already started incorporating customer service chatbots into your business, you should start doing so now.
