Customer service has been a requirement of every industry in all ages. From the multi-billion-dollar companies to the little roadside store, its presence is imperative for a business to operate.
The rapid increase and ever-changing standards of customer expectations have made all business to be at their toes. Every company is trying to meet the high expectations of customers.
According to research, about 32% of customers are likely to quit shopping due to a just one bad experience. Bad experiences can relate to bad product quality, but it is an observation that generally it is caused by a subpar after-sales customer service experience. Such has served as an excellent eye-opener for all organisations that deal with customer service, as it can quickly become a point of notice that their customer care is unable to help many customers.
The best way to deal with this is to use the power of technology, i.e. update old technologies and the good old method of training staff accordingly. Upgrading your technology will enable you to deal with many problems, which otherwise seem impossible to solve.
Social media has brought a revolutionary wave into the customer services. Social media proved to be a significant advantage as well a disadvantage. Now, almost every brand is on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, which reached out to a large number of audiences. This way they can connect with the customer one-on-one and answer any questions or concerns, that the customer is troubled. However, its drawback is that now people have a platform to speak, and they don’t hesitate to make use of it. If they experience bad service or received a bad product, a lot of them are likely to share their experience on Facebook or Instagram. It can injure the brand’s reputation significantly. People are prone to look at reviews and reputation before buying something from a new brand, and if their customers deem the service is subpar due to their reports. Then they are most likely to look for any other brands. Similarly, if customer reviews are well received then that brand is more likely to flourish.
However, it’s not as simple as migrating all customer service towards social platforms.
Below are some statistic and trends in customer care in recent times:
- 70% organisations that deal with customer services says that customer satisfaction is their number one priority.
- Customers are willing to pay 45% or more for a product if the customer services are excellent. People prefer comfort over money nowadays.
- Customer services are said to be gaining much more importance. It is a point to note that in the upcoming years of customer service will overtake the spot of price or quality of the product.
- Self-service will become essential with the passage of time. All social media pages That interact with customers is providing self-service. The phone has made self-service mandatory.
- Artificial intelligence will prevail in the upcoming years. Almost 8 out of 10 organisations have implemented artificial intelligence into their services. People are likely to have more interaction with Artificial intelligence than human interaction.
Now that we talked about statistics let us look at some ways of interaction that can improve the overall service experience.
- Live chat has made emails an old school process. People are digging more and more into live chat. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, have made live chat much simpler and more reliable.
- Calling centres are still as popular as they ever been if not more. Because everyone has a mobile and it’s easier to connect through it. Do people need any information? They call the calling centre. Be it for a review or for getting information, proving that human interaction is still widespread and is not going out of trend.
- Utilize chatbots, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things to cover routine and straightforward tasks. Human resources are freed in this way and give your service personnel time to focus on customers who need in-person help. Your customer service agents can do they are there for: engaging with your customers that genuinely need help.
It was a great concern for people that Artificial intelligence is eating up many jobs, but this is not accurate because there are bots for the ease of customer care but that means more and strict supervising is a need.
The purpose of new technology is not to get rid of all human interaction. As there will always be a need for human interaction and nothing can replace it in many ways. Nor are their purpose is to lay off your employees. Their goal is to combine the strengths of man and machine to make customers happy. The speed of AI technology together with the personal touch of a competent customer service agent makes for a powerful combination. Together, they are better at fulfilling their purpose better than ever before
There will be fewer and fewer person to person interactions in the future, the importance of them will rise. It is imperative that your staff be trained accordingly and provide services to the best of quality when are required to do. However, many routine tasks can be automated, and that will take a considerable burden off the employer. Your agents can concentrate on what they are trained best to do: Deliver personal service and solutions to your customers.
Moreover, we should not underestimate the emotional bond of human interaction. That can only be understood and conveyed by another human. Your agents are likely to be able to react better emotionally when many calls on hold don’t burden them.
The future of customer services is bright because it is a field where all organisation is trying to be more competitive and outdo each other. Each company is trying to provide more comfort, reliability and ease to the customer using different means.
An example of this can be that many companies offer free shipping which significantly attracts the customer. Even though spending a few pounds more won’t trouble the customer much, but the customer is benefited from this.
Sometimes the brands are offering free products which are benefiting the customers greatly, and customers become more forgiving of any mistakes which in turn profits the organisation. It’s is proven psychological behaviour that when someone gets something free, he or she feels more attracted towards and more forgiving of the brand.