Digitizing the contact center and improving customer service is essential in times of crisis. Chris Richard, VP of Contact Center Operations at Agero explains how contact center leaders need to drive more digital tooling and find the sweet spot with automated & agent-assisted service.
Businesses have entered into one of the most challenging environments we’ve seen in decades. While there is light at the end of the tunnel, the journey ahead will be complex and challenging. For many companies, transformational initiatives – mainly digital innovationOpens a new window and implementation – have been placed on hold or abandoned entirely, oftentimes more out of fear than necessity. Instead, doing “enough to get by†has taken priority.
However, business consultants agree that putting these projects on the back burner can be problematic: if there’s anything we’ve collectively learned, it’s that the companies that have embraced digital strategies are the ones that are surviving, and ultimately, thriving. Consider this: traditional categories that were previously seen as too sensitive to be done digitally have recently seen enormous adoption of digital. The growth of telemedicineOpens a new window in the U.S., for example, has been staggering, with platforms reporting over 1000 percent growth in virtual medical visits in certain parts of the country. Consumer lendingOpens a new window has also seen a rapid shift to digital channels, with one digital platform reporting a greater than 400 percent increase in daily loan volume.
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Across industries, consumer expectations for digital services and support have shifted dramatically. This is particularly true for customer service and support functions, which not only impact customer loyalty (according to PwC, one in three consumers (32%) say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience) but revenue (according to Bain & Company, companies that deliver a better customer experience Opens a new window have revenue 4 to 8 percent above the rest of their market). For example, since the start of the pandemic, ZenDesk has seen demand for text message support increase by 30 percent across its portfolio.
As a result, a quality, digitally-enabled customer service experienceOpens a new window is becoming more important than ever before. This reliance on digital is further compounded as phone lines swamp, wait times increase and the number of individual reps available to provide support may be limited due to stay at home orders or as a result of layoffs.
So where to go from here? To pull off uninterrupted service, the right IT infrastructure must be in place. As contact centerOpens a new window and customer support leaders determine their next move, there are several key steps and technologies they would be wise to consider:
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Automation
Automation can tighten operations and drive efficiencies by helping customers access self-service support more quickly through a digital communicationOpens a new window channel, such as a mobile app, on-demand app or an online web portal. These channels essentially help customers “cut the line,†rather than waiting in a phone queue (which is especially beneficial if contact center staffing is reduced) while also enabling routing of more emergent situations directly to employees for necessary hands-on care.
- Online Portals: Many business websites have links or landing pages where customers can request help or service directly from the website. These online tools allow users to enter all their details, skip the phone queue and often provide service status updates or allow users to review historical information on other service requests issued.
- Mobile Apps/APIs: Consumers are used to using their mobile devices to order food, request a ride, or deposit a check, and the mobile experience is often considered faster and overall preferable to speaking with an agent by phone. Because mobile apps typically hold specific user profiles, helpful background information is already pre-filled, speeding the process. In cases where location information is needed, a smartphone’s native GPS functionality can easily pull and upload this data. And, because all information is submitted digitally, it is more reliable.
A further benefit is that mobile apps and the APIs they are built on can provide a seamless brand experience, creating stickiness with customers and helping encourage the use of other capabilities within the app. In fact, in some industries – such as roadside assistance, for example – customers who request service through a mobile app report Net Promoter Scores (NPS) 10 points higher, on average, than those who use non-digital channels.
- On-demand web apps: Also called Visual Interactive Voice Response (VIVR), on-demand web applications can provide a solid middle-ground for businesses looking to drive more digital tooling but aren’t ready or able to launch full-blown mobile app experience. VIVR works by providing customers who call into customer support lines via smartphone the option to launch an app-like, web-based interface – without the need to download a native mobile app.
This technology is often less complicated to ramp up than a mobile app and helps to satisfy consumers’ desire for connected self-service while allowing customer support businesses to take advantage of other digital benefits, such as mapping, location data, links to online resources, etc. Similar to a full mobile app, this digital channel helps to support the accuracy of shared information. Additionally, if a customer prefers to exit the mobile experience, they can easily transfer back to a live call. Overall, our research has found that customers that are able to and do use an on-demand app to request service report NPS scores 5 points higher than traditional phone channels.
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Digital Support Channels
Despite the rapidly growing demand for tools such as these, consumer awareness of digital channels is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome to accelerate adoption. Leaders that move forward with any of these options should remember to be thoughtful about how each is designed and should work closely with others across the organization to ensure customers are being driven to these channels. To encourage usage, digital support channels should be easily findable and usable. There are a few ways these experiences can be optimized:
- In a mobile app, add a customer service button to the main screen. It is important to place access in obvious locations like the log-in screen and the home screen.
- Online, add a help button to the banner or footer on the company website. This makes it easier for consumers to find and leverage. Optimizing search within the website will also make self-service customer support easier to find.
- Add the URL or digital channel location in addition to the service phone number on your website.
- Remind customers through email communications of their service and include links to digital channels directly in the email. This will help raise awareness. In addition, it may prompt consumers to search their inbox during a customer service event and empower them to request support.
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Cloud
Moving contact center IT infrastructureOpens a new window to the cloud increases flexibility, scalability, reliability and makes the business function more nimbly. Not only can cloud capabilities enhance capacity, moving select systems to the cloud strengthens disaster response and business continuity efforts through more reliable and robust failover protocol and availability zoning. The cloud Opens a new window also supports the ability to test new applications more easily, make changes on the fly and increase the speed of software updates and releases, allowing your teams to work on the most up to date technology possible.
Final Thoughts
This global crisis has fundamentally changed business. Across every industry, consumers are leapfrogging their adoption of digital channels and recognizing the benefits of these new tools. Past history has shown that when people are forced into new routines during an emergency, these shifts in behavior persist even after the crisis is over. With regard to customer service, consumers remember brands that are able to resolve their problems quickly and effectively – and will be expecting digital capabilities to help them. Contact center leaders will need to prepare now for this change.
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