15-12-2022
HOW DO AUTOMATED CUSTOMER SERVICES ENABLE YOU TO REDUCE COSTS AND INCREASE SATISFACTION?
How do automated customer services enable you to reduce costs and increase satisfaction?
Contact centres are fast becoming primary, and central, customer service points.
Customers nowadays expect a rapid response and, at the same time, rather than phone calls, they prefer contacting companies via apps, websites, voice bots and chat bots.
In order to meet the demands of today’s customers, contact centre departments need to use technology which streamlines processes, optimises the productivity of individual employees and ensures the highest levels of customer satisfaction.
What do the data tells us?
- 64% of consumers say that the most useful chat bot functionality is its 24/7 service capability
- 62% of consumers prefer using a chat bot or voice bot to waiting for an employee to answer their query
- 65% of consumers feel comfortable dealing with their problem without human assistance
- 40% of Internet users are not interested in whether they are a bot or a human serves them, as long as they receive an answer to their query
- 82% of consumers state that immediate answers to their queries are crucial when they are contacting a brand
The benefits of an automatised contact centre
- A simplified customer service process
- A better customer experience
- Dozens of customers can be served at the same time
- Support can be provided 24/7/365
- Agents have more time to devote to complex and challenging tasks
Reducing operating costs through automation
One of the effects of successful contact centre automation is a reduction in the company’s operating costs.
An automated contact centre can help to reduce the average call handling time. This, in turn, reduces the number of agents required to provide the service.
Contact centre automation can also help to reduce costs by using virtual agents, which do not require expensive equipment.
Let your agents focus on high-value activities
AGI research has shown that, on average, an employee spends just 29% of their day on high-value activities such as solving complex problems or helping customers find what they need.
The rest of their time is given over to administrative tasks such as making appointments, planning, filling in documents and so forth.
Contact centre automation can also help to reduce the amount of time agents spend on activities which add no value to the business, such as handling simple problems that customers can deal with themselves via self-service.
One good example is the use of a virtual advisor which has the automated and repeatable capacity to solve a customer’s problem or answer basic queries such as:
- when will I receive the delivery?
- can I cancel my order?
- can I use a card to pay on delivery?
More advanced voice bots, like AALIA, are even capable of arranging for a customer to have their car serviced or tested or of carrying out a bank transfer.
Customer engagement and the service process
Customer engagement is one of the most important aspects of effective service.
It can support customer retention, increase loyalty and sales and improve brand reputation.
However, in order to achieve real-time customer engagement, you need to have the right tools.
An automatised call centre gives you the opportunity of having a single platform which will connect seamlessly with your other business applications. This provides a cohesive and consistent customer experience across all channels.
Switch on to automatised self-service and FAQs
Using an automated contact centre also means that you can make the most of self-service features which empower customers, enabling them to find the answers they need without having to talk to an agent.
Another function you can employ is using FAQs to answer your customers’ most common queries, such as where to find a particular product or how to use it.
Because FAQs require no input from an agent, they are an excellent way of reducing the average customer service handling time.
One example of this is an FAQ which tells a customer how to change an address. Rather than making the customer wait for an agent to help them, the FAQ can immediately take them through the entire process.
This allows the customer to deal with their problem themself and you to save time.
Provide predictive analysis and agent feedback
An automated contact centre can also help to provide agents with predictive analysis.
This means that it has the capability of identifying trends leading to specific outcomes, which can help agents react accordingly in order to reduce average call handling times.
An example here is when an agent assists a customer who is checking flight schedules.
If the same customer calls back later to check the status of the same flight, the agent can immediately see the relevant trend, such as a delayed flight, for instance, and react as appropriate.
This can significantly reduce the average call handling time.
Conclusions
Contact centre automation can transform your business.
It enables you to streamline processes, standardise workflows and eliminate repetitive tasks.
In addition, it can help to reduce costs and increase productivity.
You can use a single platform to manage not only all your contact channels, including social media, email and apps, but also your business applications.
Artificial intelligence supports you in providing a consistent experience across all these channels, which can help improve customer satisfaction.