Millennials are going digital, so is marketing, sales, and even social interactions. Can we really afford a laggard digital customer service? Digital customer service is not just an expectation but an opportunity to connect with your customers in an efficient, scalable and economical manner.
Digital customer serviceOpens a new window involves digital channels like social media, text messages, websites, emails, online chats and so on, to address the customer needs (query resolution, feedback, complaints).
According to McKinseyOpens a new window , digital customer care “can increase customer satisfaction by up to 33 percent and generate savings of 25 to 30 percent by reducing call-center volume.“
Let’s dive deeper to understand how to excel at digital customer service.
Chart out the customer journey across channels
Customer serviceOpens a new window should be consistent across all channels. Ensure you have a consistent interface for your web, phone, email and social channels.
Map out your customer’s journey across these channelsOpens a new window to gain insights into his experience with your brand so far. Understanding the mind of the customer will help you identify his needs and problems. This will help you serve him better as you can align each channel with contextual, continuous outcomes.
Let customers figure out and specify their preferred channel for a transaction(s). It enhances their experience as they know they are in control and gives you valuable information on customer’s preferences.
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Tame the technology
You have to think digital, for going digital. This applies to the usage of the latest technologies for your customer service platformsOpens a new window as well as to enable customer service agents with the right tools and digital capabilities.
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A Gartner reportOpens a new window says “25% of customer service operations will use virtual customer assistants by 2020.â€
Here are the latest trends that will drive digital care:
- Messenger Support like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp
- AI enabled Chatbots for answering user queries
- AI-guided digital self-service
- Â Video chat to avert shopper’s retail visit
- Cobrowse-aided phone engagement
- Cobrowse-aided website navigation and form filling
- Proactive digital offers and notifications
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Simplify and Interact
Ensure that reaching out to you is a simple and convenient process that involves few mouse clicks or screen touches with an intuitive and clean designOpens a new window . Make user interfaces easy to navigate, ensure critical information is not obscured in pages and offer the user a wide variety of services and choice of support channel.
Create an interactive environment, where customers can connect to you in real time. If a customer has already spoken to an agent, route the call back to connect to the same agent. This saves time as there is no repeat information flow and the customer is saved some frustration too.
Value your customers and add value to their experiences
“May I transfer your call to another representative†or the sound of hold tone, irks you and me alike.
Based on the stage of the customer journey, you can streamline your IVR to route the customer interaction to the most efficient service agent for that stage. This not only increases efficiency but also lowers customer effort.
Today more customers are reaching out to brands through social mediaOpens a new window to resolve their issues. Invest in social media teams to reach out to the customers as quickly as you can.
According to Social Media TodayOpens a new window :
- 1 in 3 social media users prefers to use social media customer care services to make a call or email.
- An estimated 67% of consumers now use social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to seek resolution for issues.
- Customers spend 20-40% more with companies that engage and respond to customers via social media.
- Nearly 70% of consumers have said that they have used social media to resolve issues with customer service on at least one occasion.
No matter how many different channels, (voice, text, social etc.) the customer has used to reach to you, you should be able to provide a seamless engagement without him having to start all over again. E-care is effective when customer services are designed and evolve to reflect user’s needs. Customers expect more convenience from the brand, with every experience significantly impacting the overall impression of the brand.
Improvise the existing processÂ
There is no fixed process for a good customer service. Follow your internal processes to serve them but go an extra mile to serve them better.
Conduct surveys, gather feedback to understand why customers contact you. Analyze this data to fix the existing problems.
Reach out to your customers to understand how you can help them better and explore ways to make their experience richer and easier.Opens a new window
There is no replacement of personal touch, but a ‘human agent’ can’t reach all and please all. With the Gen-Z preferring digital interactions over traditional channels, you have to embrace, adopt and ace your digital customer service.