The standard for customer service is now 24/7 availability, with customers coming to expect their own dedicated service agent without having to leave the comfort of their homes.
The customer experience is changing dramatically as a result, creating far greater customer satisfaction, with the opportunity to build positive brand identity and loyalty and drive sales.
The technology is now available to enable organizations to reach that level of customer experience. A number of new trends are evolving and becoming more commonplace, changing the customer experience quickly.
Intelligent Conversational Engagements Anytime, Anywhere
When customers need assistance, they want immediate interaction with someone who can answer questions and solve problems. Live engagement can now provide just that with the capability to live chat with human or virtual agents 24/7. More than 64 percent of customers see 24-hour service as the biggest advantage of chatbots, and just how helpful the bots can be can make or break the customer experience.
Moving well beyond a first conversation, you can provide real-time video and voice engagements that help establish a personal connection and build trust. American consumers will pay 17 percent more to purchase from a company with a reputation for great service, and 72 percent of consumers say a disconnected experience would make them change brands, according to research from American Express.
An experience that enables customers to have multiple threads of conversations that can dynamically transition from live or persistent chat (text chat) to a full two-way audio/video interaction with the ability for screen sharing as the situation demands, puts the customer at ease and fully enables an efficient buying journey. These seamless, multi-experience interactions, potentially including text, voice, and video, can be initiated from any digital platform, including website, email, search engine results, web ads, and social media. Agents and customers can also pick up their conversations from any device, including computer, phone, or tablet, based on whether they are at a desk, out and about, or sitting back on their couch.
Collaborative, Connected Customer Interactions
Interactions between customers and agents that offer remote experiences can create relationships that rival, or even surpass, in-person meetings.
These next steps can be critical to customers having detailed questions answered, exploring a product or organization further, and ultimately assisting agents with closing deals. Some of these activities include the following:
- Co-browsing and screen sharing that allows customers and personal service agents to design, build, configure, and collaborate together.
- Co-form filling that allows for hand holding on complex forms and greatly increases completion.
- Connected experiences that can include engaging online customers with in-store agents.
- Mobile cameras that allow walk-throughs of showrooms and stores that can show customers specific details of actual products from multiple angles.
- Self-schedule appointments with an expert at a time convenient to the customer.
Flexible and Automated Personal Service Agent Experiences
Having timely, knowledgeable information during conversations with customers is a critical part of what agents bring to customer interactions. For example, agent assist bots can act as personal assistants for your agents as they engage customers by automating workflows. As a result, the agent can truly focus on the customer, providing a much better customer experience. The auto-respond mode allows agents to handle more simultaneous chats when queues get longer. This type of behind-the-scenes support has many benefits, helping agents fulfill customer needs more quickly, while reducing risk for companies and increasing compliance with specific communication guidelines.
Another example of automated service that can enhance experiences is auto-translation between customers and agents, allowing for global organizations to easily provide native language chat capabilities, even if the agent is not a native speaker. This helps drive personalization and establishes trust. Agents can also show their personalities and build relationships with customers through personalized profiles, assets, bookmarks, checklists, and tools.
Superior Interactive Experiences Are Taking Place Now
These enhanced, interactive customer service systems are becoming an expected element of a successful customer experience. Organizations are eager to have 24/7 live agents ready to satisfy most customer needs virtually, and customers expect this as well. No longer considering customer service as a cost, organizations now understand that live engagement tools are a necessary investment that delivers excellent service, creates brand loyalty, and grows sales.
Priya Iyer is chairperson and CEO of Vee24. She has more than 25 years of diverse international experience in software development.