Introduction
Due to the epidemic caused by the Coronavirus, the vast majority of businesses have been forced to shut down their in-person operations. As a result, many firms are attempting to make dramatic moves in order to maintain their customer service and support operations. Because of this issue, it has become clear that in order to preserve long-term business resilience and success, a customer service plan that is both strong and digitally oriented must be implemented.
Make use of this book to get an understanding of the components that comprise an efficient digital strategy as well as the steps necessary to apply those components for your own firm.
Providing an Outstanding Level of Service to the Customers
The customer care and support team’s function has become increasingly important in a world that is increasingly focused on the customer experience. Companies who consider their customer care and support to be nothing more than a cost rather than an investment are passing on a chance to cultivate long-term client loyalty and, eventually, a healthier bottom line. Nevertheless, offering a pleasant experience for customers requires more than just handing out free swag and staffing call centers with pleasant personnel. The executives of an organization are responsible for consciously developing a plan for the customer experience that makes use of both conventional and digital components.
Serving the Needs of Customers Digitally
The provision of digital customer service cannot exist in isolation from an overarching strategy for improving the customer experience; the various digital channels utilized by a company must not be compartmentalized but, rather, incorporated as essential elements of an overall strategy for improving customer service.
Customers are heading in the direction of a completely connected world that is made possible by technology. They have high expectations for the speed, connectedness, and ease of use of every encounter along their path to purchase. Because traditional procedures are sluggish and reactive, they are unable to successfully predict and deliver against rapidly changing consumer expectations. Traditional ways of customer service alone will no longer be sufficient for meeting the demands of customers who are connected to the internet.
Businesses are currently at a crossroads, when they must seriously contemplate how they should organize their organizations. The activities of call centers are gradually being supplanted by virtual ecosystems comprised of various digital technologies, such as voice assistants, chatbots, and self-service portals. Companies who are able to deliver customer service that is both relevant and nimble will be the ones that are able to differentiate themselves from other businesses in their industry.
The Future of Customer Service
So, what exactly does this imply for the future of providing service to customers? Whether or not organizations are prepared, the nature of customer service as the vast majority of professionals have come to understand it will undergo significant shifts. As new channels and technology become more commonplace throughout the customer experience, the leaders of businesses will need to figure out how to combine these elements into a plan for providing customer care. In the event that this does not occur, they will be forced to cope with a technological stack consisting of several overlapping and incompatible systems in the years to come. As a consequence of this, they run the danger of providing their customers with a haphazard and inconsistent experience.
To prevent this from happening, companies need to think about how to construct a customer service strategy that takes use of both digital and conventional channels of contact.
Leaders will be better positioned to improve corporate efficiencies, accommodate rising client bases, and react rapidly to meet future demands that develop if they create and carry out an integrated digital customer strategy that is part of an overall customer experience strategy.
Components necessary for an efficient digital strategy
Because a digital customer service strategy is only one component of a larger customer experience plan, it is essential to first define the organization’s broader vision and goal before moving on to developing a digital customer service strategy. Following this plan, the choice of both digital and conventional channels to utilize should be determined.
To ensure the success of any digital customer service plan, it is important to organize an official committee comprised of members from both the IT and customer-facing teams. This committee’s primary responsibility will be the execution of the digital component of the customer service strategy.
Do not skip this step in order to move on to more actionable items; rather, take the time to establish a group that will not only be responsible for establishing overall customer service goals and strategies, but also for acquiring and putting into practice the technology required to successfully bring that vision to life.
After the committee has been established, there are three fundamental aspects that it must take into consideration in order to develop an outstanding plan for the long term:
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Learn About the Current Experiences of Your Customers.
In the end, each and every component of customer service needs to be geared at assisting the consumer and improving their overall experience. To accomplish this goal, you will need in-depth understanding of the normal interactions that a consumer has with a company.
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The importance of providing seamless omnichannel experiences.
Throughout the course of their journey, customers engage with a variety of channels and touchpoints, some examples of which are customer portals, public websites, applications, and others. These encounters cannot be compartmentalized; rather, they must offer customers with information that is consistent across all channels in order to give a unified experience to the client base. For instance, if a company policy is revised, it may be necessary to revise it across the company’s websites, messenger bots, live chat scripts, social media channels, call center scripts, and any other available touchpoints. If this is accomplished in an effective and efficient manner, it will provide a significant advantage over the company’s competitors.
Evaluate the existing channels that are being supplied; do each of them offer an experience that is engaging for the customers? Are there some channels that consumers would want to use but the company does not provide, or are there channels that customers do not utilize but the company provides anyway?
It is important to keep in mind that not all channels will make sense to include; leaders will need to decide whether or not the new channel is worth the effort it will take to integrate and manage it. Before giving any new channel serious consideration, you should first determine if the consumers who are demanding it are genuinely part of your core audience or whether the channel would provide access to a new audience that is essential to your company’s expansion.
Whether conventional or digital channels are being utilized or introduced, it is important to develop a strategy for how they may all function together to offer an experience that will fulfill consumer wants and establish a competitive edge for the company.
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Put into action the required technological measures.
Assessing and putting into action the necessary technology to put the entire plan into action requires having a more extensive grasp of the normal behavior of customers.
Investing in these various technologies should not be done in isolation or just to keep up with the most recent trends; rather, the investments should make sense for customers, within the context of the overall customer service strategy and business requirements.
This guide will only touch on a select handful of the many diverse developing trends in technology; nonetheless, these trends are among the most essential ones.
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Self-Service
Self-service is the first step in creating outstanding digital experiences for customers. Not only is it the preferred method for customers to interact with businesses, but it also brings immediate benefits such as cost savings and productivity gains by reducing the number of calls into the customer support center. This is because empowering customers to find the content and information they need on their own is how customers prefer to interact with businesses.
The majority of consumers should be directed to self-service options, but businesses should be aiming toward a digital-first customer service model in which only a small number of highly trained support personnel are available to handle complex issues.
It will be easier to provide uniform experiences across the board if self-service is integrated into several channels, such as websites and customer portals. This will make the delivery of these experiences more scalable. An investment in self-service will also be an investment in establishing a stronger digital strategy for the long run.
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AI and ML (machine learning and artificial intelligence)
The use of AI technology in the improvement of already existing apps and procedures will become increasingly frequent. Although many companies are interested in improving their customer service via the use of AI, many of them are having trouble determining the best way to put AI to use in their operations.
Before making any investments in artificial intelligence (AI), organizations must first determine where AI fits into the overall process of providing customer service and what particular problems it should alleviate. Utilizing AI technology to provide more tailored self-service, creating virtual assistants, or automating case management routing and workflow assignment are examples of some of the most common and successful applications of AI to date.
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The Importance of Platforms for Digital Experience
Customer service technology stacks will start to incorporate different, overlapping systems as the number of technologies utilized and digital channels deployed rises. This will result in disconnected experiences for customers.
To mitigate the effects of this threat, digital experience platforms (DXP) can help current services become more easily integrated into a single, unified, and user-friendly platform. Systems and apps contained inside a DXP are able to be readily integrated with one another in order to deliver omnichannel experiences that are consistent.
In addition, DXPs are designed to be adaptable and extendable, which means that the platform can not only absorb new systems and technologies as they become available, but it can also be expanded to meet the requirements of other potential uses in the near and far future. For instance, a powerful DXP enables the construction of many customer-facing solutions, all of which run on the same platform. Businesses are able to construct consumer self-service portals, communication hubs, status update websites, and other solutions that can link to third-party apps and legacy systems all on an one website. This eliminates the need to separate each touchpoint onto a separate website.
Businesses are able to save resources as a result of this not only because they are required to manage fewer systems, but also because they can reuse existing elements to build new sites and touchpoints much faster while also maintaining brand consistency. This is preferable to having to start from scratch across a variety of point solutions, which necessitates a greater investment of time and effort.
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Examine How Well You Did
Evaluation of the results of putting a strategy into action is an element that is just as vital. Keep an eye on measures such as:
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The amount of time it takes for consumers to get their problems resolved.
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The number of calls received by customer support per day.
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How many individuals log onto each of the digital channels that are made available?
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savings made possible by the addition of digital channels.
It is also important to have either customer support personnel or a neutral third party contact out to consumers in order to score or review the experience they had. Make sure to include a routine evaluation of strategies and distribution channels so that changes can be made and a customer experience can be developed that will truly be of use to the target audience.
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Putting All of the Pieces Together
However, the investment and commitment put into maturing a digital customer service strategy will be well worth the benefits of optimized business efficiencies, increased agility and scalability, and ultimately enhanced customer experiences. Getting started on a digital-first customer service strategy may appear to be difficult and resource-intensive.
Don’t let the magnitude of the effort that lies ahead intimidate you; instead, begin by identifying general goals for the customer experience and gaining a knowledge of how customer service fits into that larger strategic framework. When we have established this, it will be easier to see the many traditional and digital channels that may be utilized to realize that objective.
Then, as more data is obtained and the level of customer satisfaction is measured, make adjustments to the plan and methods.
Conclusion
There is no universally applicable method for providing customer care; rather, each company will need to modify the products and services, as well as the digital channels, that they offer in order to cater to the specific requirements that its clients and employees have. However, regardless of the specifics of each strategy, companies that have developed mature digital customer service strategies will be in a position to better meet the requirements of their clientele. As a result, they will be able to deliver an experience that encourages clients to remain as clients over the long term.
Based in Colorado, Maria Davis is best known for her contributions to media marketing, translation and writing. She is currently working as a CX Manager for Routeget Technologies. She entered the writing world to explore her passion for contrastive linguistics, adaptation and lexicography. Ava also enjoys skiing, social media management and vegan parties.
Based in Colorado, Maria Davis is best known for her contributions to media marketing, translation and writing. She is currently working as a CX Manager for Routeget Technologies. She entered the writing world to explore her passion for contrastive linguistics, adaptation and lexicography. Ava also enjoys skiing, social media management and vegan parties.
