E-commerce continues along its faster-than-expected growth curve. As a result, plenty of companies have turned to customer service technology like chatbots and interactive voice response (IVR) to manage volume and cost, but the promise of full digital self-service has largely failed to live up to expectations. While bots might be able to field low-level inquiries, like tracking items or looking up old orders, more complicated issues still require the human touch to resolve, and companies have found many customers simply prefer it. Contact centers are still very necessary, and they are busier than ever.
Contact center agents are expected to handle a higher volume of inquiries, of greater complexity, often while working from home without the benefit of a team leader nearby. Additionally, agents must be more technically adept as companies move away from full suite monoliths in favor of modular tech solutions—good for adapting to ever-changing customer needs on the front end but cumbersome to navigate on the back end. Customers prefer talking to live agents because they want to feel heard and valued, but when an agent is stressed out, fumbling between multiple tabs and windows, trying to remember every step of every policy or process, it becomes difficult to give customers the level of focus and personalization they want.
The role of the customer service agent is more important and more challenging than ever. So how can companies ensure an excellent customer experience from their contact center agents? Give agents access to tools that support them in doing their job each day. Rather than placing automation in front of a customer as a means of deflection, leverage those ideas as a means of augmenting the agent.
One standout example of this is attended automation. This class of emerging technology uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to assist and guide agents in real time, answering questions, predicting customer needs, handling repetitive tasks, and even preventing errors. The smart way to transform customer service is not about finding ways to replace agents; it's about finding ways to augment their human qualities, simplify their processes, and make their jobs easier.
As this technology rises in popularity, the impact is overwhelmingly positive. Here are four ways attended automation is transforming call centers:
1. It drives contacts to more successful resolutions.
Ideally, a customer would never hang up without a satisfying resolution, but sometimes this is challenging. Some customers call and demand a refund from the start. Without solid procedures and workflows in place, harried agents might simply appease customers to get them off the phone. This equals lost revenue.
Then there are customers who do hang up with their problems unresolved. They are likely to call back even angrier with the same issues or new ones, wasting time and resources that could have been focused elsewhere.
Attended automation can help with both of those frustrations. When agents can access all the information they need to research an item or order quickly and receive real-time coaching on policies, they can offer resolution that benefits both parties, like an exchange or a replacement. Attended automation makes agents more efficient. It provides them with a bird's eye view of essential information and on-the-spot guidance, thus reducing angry repeat calls. This level of informed customer service ultimately leads to more business.
2. It supports agents in performing stressful jobs.
The best customer experiences start with great agents, since the agent on the phone might be the only touchpoint for a customer while fixing an order or solving a problem. Despite their importance, agents don't always get much support, making contact center positions tough on the nearly a half-million Americans in these jobs.
Agents must juggle all the details about a customer or an order while also listening, offering empathy, and resolving an issue to everyone's satisfaction. Multitasking like this is challenging, and some agents struggle to provide consistent service throughout the day.
Attended automation makes it easy for an agent to surface relevant details, like order status and customer history, in a flash. While an agent listens and answers questions, attended automation works in the background to ensure the agent has all the information needed to provide exceptional service. This is particularly important when customers are upset and getting more and more impatient as they wait for resolution. When agents have what they need to do their jobs, they can stay calm and relaxed and do their best work, and calls are more likely resolved with the customer leaving happy (and staying loyal). It's a win for both customers and companies.
3. It decreases training time and gets agents productive faster.
Turnover is high in call centers. The average rate is about 45 percent. New employees are often rushed onto the job, and this can lead to costly errors. While this is sub-optimal, it's a reality in a field with high attrition.
Attended AI can help by reducing the time it takes for new agents to get up to speed. It acts as a real-time coach right on the desktop, helping agents with the formative steps of learning their jobs and company processes rather than leaving them to memorize lengthy policy manuals or fumble around their computer windows and tabs searching for answers. Newer and less experienced agents can learn faster and feel more confident on the job as they drive each call to successful close. This tech can also help prevent common mistakes and enforce policies.
But new hires aren't the only agents who can benefit from this kind of oversight. Even experienced associates can perform better, reinforce best practices, and break bad habits with attended automation in the background, providing an extra hand as they do their jobs.
4. It improves call center metrics.
Ultimately, call centers are judged by numbers: length of call, number of touchpoints to reach a resolution, customer satisfaction score, and more. Attended automation helps improve virtually every metric in your call center: how long an agent needs to be on the phone to fix a problem; how much revenue agents can preserve when a caller initially demands a refund, even how long new hires need to be in training before starting on the floor. Metrics, including customer satisfaction score, average handling time, emails per hour, and speed to production all improve through the use of this technology. Attended AI also helps your agents get the most out of your CX program's tech stack, as it can integrate quickly and easily with other software already in use.
With economic uncertainty in the air, contact centers are looking for fresh options that can reduce costs without major upfront investments of money or time. Support the human side of your strategy while also building an environment where you can easily test new ideas in AI and automation, which will ultimately reinvent your contact center from the ground up. Attended automation is emerging fast, and it can help your customer service in ways self-service cannot with measurable increased revenue, happier customers, and more satisfied agents.
Jeff Fettes is founder and CEO of Laivly and 24-7 Insight.