There's no business like repeat business. Customer service in any industry is the deciding factor for either a long-time customer or an unhappy customer who heads toward competitors because of a bad experience.
In this environment, business customer care systems are expected to provide the connection between companies and consumers and create positive outcomes for both agents and customers. However, today's leading companies have tightened the demand on customer service, and it is up to businesses to evaluate what speed bumps will set them back from proper and updated customer service strategies.
Customer Care Dilemma
Today, customers typically dial up a call center or other customer hotline to speak to a customer care agent and receive information about an item or service they've recently purchased. The issue is that customers can be left sitting tight for some time before they're addressed. Because of long wait times due to high call volumes, customers can end up frustrated causing them to hang up, leaving with a negative customer experience.
High volumes of calls, however, also affect the work of agents. In addition to staying aware of a high number of day-to-day calls, agents can be asked questions that don't fall along their scripts. These agents normally are given a script with the typical problems and solutions for customers. In any case, if a question comes in that's more technical in nature or addresses a recent product upgrade not outlined in the script, agents might not be able to truly resolve the issue. For agents to assist customers in the event that they receive inquiries outside of their script, the introduction of a hybrid care solution can bring more efficiency.
In light of how customers have moved toward becoming well-informed with their tech devices, they have embraced support materials on an everyday basis. This prompts another kind of customer care strategy, using both services from agents and self-support digital customer support materials. This hybrid brings benefit to customers and paves the way for customers to be able to self-troubleshoot their own dilemmas.
Customers can troubleshoot their problems through FAQs, instructional tutorials and guides, and other self-support materials as an additional aid without altogether eliminating the need for customer service agents. It is more as an advance toward making call centers more relevant and efficient in what they do.
Why The Hybrid Solution Works?
As opposed to depending just on customer service agents for help, customers can use these helpful online support materials for efficient service. This is a fundamental approach to how tech-savvy consumers are today, and allowing them to help themselves creates a more positive experience.
With less volumes of calls, agents can invest more energy into helping those callers who have more troublesome or specialized issues in a more proficient way. Call center agents helping these customers can also obtain these support materials rather than having to rely solely on their incomplete agent scripts. These materials can fill in the holes where customer service scripts can't.
By putting more power in customers' hands with online self-support materials, customers and agents have the advantage of troubleshooting themselves. This new blend of customer care techniques will allow companies to give their customers the quickest and most efficient customer experiences possible.
James Ramey is CEO of DeviceBits, a software company that services clients through a predictive and personalized understanding of interactive tutorials, adaptive FAQs, interactive guides, and videos designed to for self-serving consumers.