Choose the right digital customer experience platform to improve customer service
In today’s digital era, organizations of all business models need to transform their customer service operations to align with constant changes and developments across industries. As customers’ expectations increase, businesses need to ensure they’re meeting those demands with exceptional service at every stage of the customer journey.
What is digital customer service?
Digital customer service (DCS) is the act of providing customer support across digital channels. It involves supporting customers through digital messaging channels, social media, email, video chat, artificial intelligence and automation solutions (e.g., chatbots), and more.
A business might use one of these channels or a combination of different touchpoints to enrich customer interactions and improve the overall functionality of customer contact and the digital customer experience.
Why digitize customer experiences?
Consumers are no longer interacting solely through traditional communication methods. Instead, they’re turning to mobile apps and web-based communications to interact with the people in their lives.
Why your business needs digital transformation
In this age of digital transformation, customers expect businesses and customer service organizations to follow suit. They expect them to provide real-time, multi-channel support strategies that are personalized, efficient, and optimized to improve customer satisfaction levels.
Customers are becoming increasingly satisfied when businesses automate or digitize their customer service journeys completely to align with how they’re already communicating in a constantly connected world.
Benefits of digital customer service
The benefits of digital customer service range from providing a more convenient service experience for customers to boosting sales, to improving customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Benefits of digital channels for customer service
DCS benefits businesses and customers in a variety of ways. Successful DCS across channels can:
- Increase customer satisfaction levels and employee experiences by reducing customer effort and addressing CX pain points in real-time.
- Empower agents with the service solutions, automation tools, and data they need to effectively resolve customer inquiries.
- Improve conversions by reimagining the traditional call center and providing customers with multi-channel - or better still, omnichannel - support, and both on-screen and off-screen guidance.
- Reduce cost by streamlining call center operations, increasing human agent productivity, and decreasing time spent on individual requests.
A new category of software solutions for customer service
There are two different categories of support solutions emerging in today’s digital-driven world: traditional and digital-first solutions.
Traditional customer service often meant contacting a call center to talk to a live sales rep and find a solution to a problem. Where call center software provides voice-centric support, a contact center facilitates highly automated and agent-assisted interactions across various digital support channels.
By providing customers with on-demand digital self-service solutions, businesses can ensure that customer demands and inquiries are being addressed effectively and efficiently with instant support. The main features of digital support platforms that improve satisfaction rates include:
- Clear and easy to understand information
- Quick resolutions to problems with self-service
- Easy navigation and simple interface
An all-in-one digital contact center solution allows agents to manage multi-channel support requests from one place. This unifying solution reduces time wasted switching between channels, decreases the likelihood of customers needing to repeat themselves, and optimizes overall agency efficiency.
Customers can move seamlessly between channels - such as messenger, SMS, and more - as they’re guided online, increasing satisfaction by enabling a unified agent to meet customer demand at every digital interaction.
Top features of customer service solutions
Customer service solutions empower businesses with various features that help to improve service operations for more streamlined support. These include:
- Multichannel ticketing for support across channels
- Phone support tools such as outbound dialers, call blending, campaign management tools, and list management
- Automation tools like IVR and chatbots
- Intelligent routing to ensure customers are directed to the most suitable agent
- Live chat for real-time support
Live chat and video chat support
Live chat offers 24/7 support for customers and increases satisfaction rates by providing efficient support in real-time.
What’s more, this digital solution allows businesses to unify live agents and AI bots for a seamless support experience and increases agent productivity by streamlining support requests.
Video chat is a support feature of live chat software that’s steadily gaining traction as a verifiable service channel that can boost satisfaction among customers. When web chat and text messaging don’t provide agents with enough information to resolve client problems, video can provide emotional context and support for struggling customers.
How digital-first customer service solutions improve customer satisfaction
By incorporating DCS solutions into business strategies, organizations can increase satisfaction rates among customers by:
- Streamlining support operations over multiple channels
- Saving time for customers and support agents - i.e., through improved routing and other features matched to customers' needs
- Enhancing convenience for customers
- Providing details about customer pain points using data analysis and reports
- Allowing agents to meet customers where they are
How can digital customer service be improved?
DCS is continuously evolving along with innovations in technology and shifts in consumer trends. Businesses should evaluate their DCS strategies on an on-going basis to provide a consistent CX and continually improve customer service experience. Consider:
- Adding value to self-service assets (e.g., chatbots or pop-up live chat)
- Regularly checking in with customers and using their feedback to inform support strategies
- Keeping up with trends in AI development
- Using web analytics and real data to inform DCS strategies
What are the 5 steps of customer service?
When it comes to implementing a successful e-care strategy, there are some simple steps you can follow to ensure consistent customer satisfaction.
- Recognize that CX is critical to improving new customer acquisition, revenue, and customer loyalty.
- Align quality customer service with your business goals by seamlessly integrating customer service tactics into your overall business strategy.
- Ensure that customer support staff are equipped with the best strategies and a knowledge base they can refer to when handling inquiries across multiple channels. Ensure expectations are communicated clearly, the support staff is constantly monitored for improvement, and consider flexible working models to increase employee satisfaction.
- Give agents the tools they need, such as CRMs, which they can leverage to provide effective and efficient service that leads to improved CX and satisfied customers.
- Apply a methodology that encourages an organized approach to customer service improvement and informs strategies across live experience support platforms.
How can we overcome poor customer service?
Poor customer service can negatively impact business operations, customer relationships, and overall profitability. Poor customer service can be prevented by ensuring that agents are equipped with the right tools and are trained on the processes to follow when resolving customer issues.
It’s also crucial to ensure that response times are kept to a minimum, as this can ruin customer experiences. DCS solutions allow support teams to reduce wait times by using automated technologies to streamline CX and enhance agent efficiency.
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