Giving customers a seamless experience is the rule these days, and technology is vital to making it possible. The challenge, however, lies in making each experience effortless as well, as technology that is poorly implemented or demands too much from the user can seriously compromise the experience. For this reason, many would argue that the answer is not just using optimized contact center technologies, but further adding a human element that ensures consistent quality control and delivers the meaningful personal contact that customers still desire. Here are six ways technology can be used to enhance the customer experience.
Customers love self-service, as it typically saves them time. IVR menus are an excellent way of ensuring that customers don’t waste time listening to long menus before choosing the option they need. In addition, they are highly efficient for routing customers to the most qualified agent when live support is needed. Automation can also be applied to payments, such as allowing customers to make automated credit card payments using a saved credit number on file. The more simple and straightforward processes are automated, the more customers save time and agents are free to handle complex cases.
Proactive support is essential to assisting customers when they need help the most, and it can also turn browsing into sales. Live chat can be offered when customers are browsing a company site, and geolocation tools can also be used to offer chat to customers in-store. In addition, the growing popularity of messaging apps for customer service is due in part to chatbots that offer proactive and personalized support. Being a step ahead of the customer is critical to offering the best support possible while driving sales and loyalty.
Being placed on hold can be a thing of the past when callbacks are implemented. Rather than risking the frustration of customers and high abandonment rates, offer prioritized callbacks that contact customers when their position arrives at the front of a queue. This ensures convenience for your customers and saves them time.
Customers don’t want just any marketing offer or recommendation—they want offers tailored to their needs. Personalized recommendations based on purchase and browsing history can be powerful tools for pleasing customers and driving sales. These recommendations can be made when customers are browsing a brand website, engaging with support through messaging, or post-purchase as a cross-selling or upselling strategy. The idea is to reach out to customers with the offers they actually want, at the most optimal times.
Making customers repeat information is a sure way to frustrate them and even lose their business. A combination of a powerful CRM software solution and effective agent routing can prevent such a situation. A CRM database can keep customer data updated in real time for all agents to access so that when customers are re-routed, all customer updates and agent notes are immediately visible. Managers should ensure ahead of time that agents are properly trained to handle the channels they are working on so that customers are always directed to the most qualified agent.
Call flow can vary greatly in the contact center, but call blending can ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction at all times. Essentially, call blending allows agents to transition seamlessly from inbound to outbound channels depending on call flow, eliminating dead time and increasing agent efficiency. A predictive dialer solution that enables call blending can work with an ACD to assign calls to available agents on both inbound and outbound channels as needed. Contact center technologies play a vital role in driving seamless customer experiences. With a clear strategy, skilled agents, and optimal timing, your brand can use such tools to turn every customer experience into an effortless one as well.
