Customer service has experienced a change in the last few years.
Customers have become more demanding and want your company’s attention now. They don’t want to wait in a service line, digital or physical, and the longer the wait, the more likely they will leave and not return.
However, technology can help your customer service department meet increasing consumer demands.
In today’s market, technology and personable customer service representatives go hand in hand to create a more effective one-on-one service experience. Other benefits of this partnership include increased speed of customer interactions and strengthened consumer connections.
In this piece, we’ll explore three aspects of customer service and how technology is improving each of them. These practices are available to all types of businesses and have helped customer service departments.
Technology has helped modern payment and refund systems be simple, transparent, and instantaneous through improved connectivity. Services like PayPal and Venmo connect right to your e-commerce site for payments and refunds.
One report found that Venmo has more users than most big banks, which shows that people are trending toward digital payment transactions whether they be between people or companies.
A secondary part of customer billing is ensuring vital information is secure and protected. This means credit card information, addresses, and any other personal information.
Data breaches are common in today’s markets, and multiple large retailers have experienced a large theft. You can combat this problem with technology by working with a security vendor or taking the proper steps to avoid this type of problem, such as different levels of data access authorization.
Customer communication is a big part of building a good service relationship with individuals.
People want to be able to reach you through any means necessary, including online support, messages through social media, phone calls, and support chats on your website. You want to be able to offer the best level of service to your customers, but it’s nearly impossible to work around the clock.
That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) can help your business. AI can be integrated into all of your customer chat tools, which many companies have already implemented.
For example, AI bots are often the first part of a customer phone call. They guide customers to the correct customer service agent after asking a series of questions. On some websites, AI bots automatically pop up after a customer has been on the website for a certain amount of time and offer to help the individual.
AI bots are also used on websites or social media sites. Companies can program these chat tools with responses to commonly asked questions or directions for who to contact about a problem.
While answering these questions, AI can sort and organize queries for businesses to analyze. Organizations have placed this information into clouds for use when reviewing service performance.
Data clouds are helpful for your customer service teams because information can be accessed from anywhere in the world and placed behind authorization walls. Clouds also organize information and can highlight areas for improvement.
However, not all data cloud vendors, like Infor software solutions, are up-to-date with scalability options or have a centralized data center. This can prevent you and your teams from properly analyzing data or hinder your abilities to get the full data picture.
Self service technology gives customers a chance to fulfill their own demands. In fact, one industry expert found that 40 percent of customers prefer self-service over speaking to a human.
A common example of self service is self-checkout lanes. Customers don’t have to speak to anyone, unless there is a serious problem, which is an option some people enjoy.
via GIPHYBut it’s not just checkout lanes that offer this type of service. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can also be filed under self service. These technologies allow customers the chance to see products in their own home or visualize how a product might look on them.
For instance, Sephora has a virtual artist for trying on makeup. Some companies even have apps with AR and VR available on them and do not require a sales person to guide individuals through them, which allows customers to do everything themselves.
Technology is amplifying customer service abilities and creating new ways of communicating and connecting with customers. Whether it is talking to a chatbot or utilizing self checkout, customers enjoy the use of technology.
Your business can thrive with technology by adding it into customer service departments. It helps with simplifying tasks and building strong customer relationships. Technology’s role in customer service will continue to grow in the coming years.