Personalized, automated service on all channels
The quality of the customer service is one of the criteria determining which retail brand will endure and which one will fail. Customers are less and less likely to forgive companies for service failures. More than 50% of customers who experience bad customer service switch brands (Helpscout, 2020). Yet what is great customer service? And how can service automation, AI, and machine learning support companies effectively with their customer service?
Key points
- Good customer service is personal, relevant and accessible 24/7;
- Service automation is both a challenge and a solution;
- Retailers should focus on core processes;
- Customer data platforms are an opportunity to make data available to all teams and systems.
White paper: Digital services ensure happier customers – thanks to service automation
Any company investing in service automation benefits directly in multiple ways: Service employees can focus on the essential tasks, and customers are impressed and remain loyal. Create the foundation for this – our white paper explains how to do it.
Great customer service is personal, relevant and accessible 24/7
The objective must be to meet the needs of your audience as fully as possible in customer service. Three factors are paramount:
- Personalization;
- Accessibility time;
- Communication on all channels.
Personalization
Personalization is one of the main drivers of customer loyalty (KPMG, 2020). Your customers want to receive only personalized and relevant answers to their questions and concerns. If the answer to one of their questions is irrelevant, or if a message appears generic and aimed at a faceless crowd, customers store the episode away as a negative experience.
Accessibility time
Since your customers want to contact you as soon as an issue arises, you want to avoid wasting their time under any circumstances (Helpscout, 2020). When customers receive swift help and useful answers at any time of the day or night and through various channels, their experience is one of truly being at the center of attention.
The omnichannel approach
Being a brand, you want to tell a consistent story enriched by elements across all channels. You want to facilitate seamless communication experiences that do not limit your customers’ habits: No matter the channel, you want to be accessible, provide consistent information and seamlessly build on the previous process. That is the omnichannel approach.
Service automation is both a challenge and a solution
Highly personalized and automated service on all channels is a unique challenge in retail and e-commerce. Unlike business customers, end customers display very diverse behaviors and interact with their brands differently. The reasons for establishing contact between brand and customer are just as diverse.
To ensure consistent communication across all channels, companies need to integrate the processes thoroughly into their local offices and e-commerce and coordinate them, which means automated service offerings place heavy demands on companies.
Yet, the right technology can help solve these challenges, and it will quickly become apparent why service automation is desirable. Automating your company’s standard processes frees up a lot of previously needed service capacity. As a result, your service team can devote itself to the core tasks: the personal cultivation of the customer relationship.
Companies must contain the cost for introducing, maintaining, controlling, evaluating, and further developing the technical solution to ensure success. After all, the additional revenue is intended to improve customer service and increase profit rather than being invested in more overhead.
Recommendation for retailers: Focus on core processes
The combination of an omnichannel strategy and service automation provides compelling opportunities. With automation, customers can switch seamlessly between contact channels, and none of the information is lost in the process because the data is available to all teams and systems via the central Customer Data Platform (CDP). This approach facilitates the seamless connection of every contact to the previous topic.
- Initial contact via social media;
- Short follow-up regarding availability via FB chat;
- Order through the webshop – Click & Collect;
- WhatsApp message upon product delivery;
- One-on-one conversation at the store.
Your customers are accompanied automatically and seamlessly from one phase of the customer journey to the next. They can contact you anytime and on any channel and never have to explain their concerns twice.
Far from it: The information and offers are often ready even before the customer requests them since the system identifies personal needs in advance.
Increasing your revenue with Click & Collect and Click & Meet
These processes are particularly compelling when you want to utilize the full potential of an omnichannel strategy with service automation. In 2020, Click & Collect revenue in the U.S. increased by more than 60% (Statista, 2021).
The story unfolds across multiple touchpoints, from online to the local store. Many occasions lend themselves to automatically supplying customers with relevant information while conveying valuable messages simultaneously.
Based on the customer data, your store employees prepare the perfect shopping experience for the customer. This concluding sales advice and support present many upsell opportunities and significant added revenue.
The conclusion
Service automation increases the efficiency of many processes, enriches the customer journey and experience and increases customer loyalty and revenue per customer. To achieve this outcome, you need to know your processes and assess the automation potential correctly, which you can do with a system like BSI CX. It offers excellent solutions for the unique challenges in retail. I would be happy to tell you more about it.
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