Automated Customer Service: How to Support Your Customers?

Automation is the most prevalent term that is being used in the industry this year. The unprecedented circumstances that have unfolded due to the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered a mass acceptance of automation in the customer support ecosystem.

We at C-Zentrix, visualize the present times to be the precursor to a coming-of-age change that will, least of all, see greater personalization for every customer we cater to and provide a hassle-free experience to those who require support in exactly the way they need it, and whenever, through automated customer service mechanisms.

We understand that you are likely dealing with a substantial spike in the number of support requests rolling in right now and a lessened capacity to respond considering a truncated workforce, so we hope that the compilation below of how it functions at our firm will provide some insight.

Content: 

Automated customer service is a method of responding to customer queries that do not involve first-hand participation from a human operator - mostly to answer similar and the most asked questions by customers akin to the function of an 'FAQ' system, if one may. AI and voice recognition technologies have made tremendous strides of late and Chatbot are now frequently employed to respond to query requests in real-time, instead of being an intermediary between the former and a human operator.

For us here at C-Zentrix, chatbots have been in use and have helped us to provide rapid, automated customer service for simple requests, in answering straightforward questions and even redirecting requests to the best-automated systems or manned departments for responding to more complex queries.

1. Cost-Effective

 As evident as it is, it costs far less (and is a one-time investment) to develop a tool that uses machine learning to adapt better to respond to queries made in real-time. Compare that to the resources required to scout, interview, hire, train, and subsequently keep humans on the payroll as customer service operators. This would lead us to a related and another direct benefit 

2. Personalisation

Machine learning is an incredible system that given some time and training provides not just an automated customer service experience while being accurate, but also responds exactly in the way the customer would find more appealing to their instincts. The industry knows the importance of loyal customers and there is indeed no doubt in the number of resources and research invested in finding ways to serve them better. From our experience, however, we have come to observe that automated customer service often provides an experience so personalized that it has visibly multiplied our customer satisfaction rates; thus, customer retention - which eventually translates to a less churn rate and gives us a competitive edge in the market.

3. Team Collaboration:

Employing bots to handle repetitive, entry-level, or 'mundane' queries essentially frees up time, space, and most importantly, a human workforce to attend to more detailed, complex queries and ones that require sustained interaction over a time period. This invariably leads to more functioning at the team level and boosts not only morale but efficiency and collaboration for the current and all future tasks.

4. Efficient:

 It is humanely not possible to employ constant shifts of operators that can provide the same quality of customer service and work all 24 hours in a day while doing so at the highest level. Human beings are sentient creatures and are affected by events in their environment and their moods, professional fatigue being the least of all. Human operators are also error-prone and often, slow. Compare that with a service system that is operational 24x7, does not make mistakes, is efficient, and does not require payment. Do we still not have a clear winner? Having said that, however, we do not intend to pull the plug on all manned customer service operating stations but are looking for avenues to increase their interaction with their human counterparts and accentuate manned performance simultaneously.

5. Sophistication in Communication:

Compared to lengthy wait times in IVR System queues, the trophy here is clearly taken away by Voicebot or chatbots that can help customers avail a self-served mode of support without going through the hassle of repeating the same set of instructions while trying to gain entry into a particular support channel. Beyond this, if required, customers can be directed to human-operated channels to provide redressal for any query deemed too specific for a bot to respond to. Whatsapp bot is also becoming ubiquitous in the realm of customer service

6. Serve Differently-Abled:

We here at C-Zentrix think not just of the most represented parts of the population but care equally about those, for one reason or another, who are at the fringes. Automated customer service is undoubtedly one of the best methods that can be employed to cater to an older generation that is not very technology savvy and to a differently-abled subset of the population. Automation helps us provide in-built features that would identify and subsequently self-regulate responses to be better attuned with the tone and approach more suited for the aforementioned groups thus building rapport and increasing customer engagement.

Any brand needs the goodwill of the individuals it engages and a legacy to bank upon for future purposes that are, obviously, built on the actions it performs in the present. We look upon customer satisfaction as an asset and feel an intense need to improvise ahead of time to provide our customers with the very best of whatever is available in the market right now - be it a product or service. Just like a lot of other improvements, we intend to stitch automated customer service into the fabric of our legacy as an inherent part of it and will recommend the same to our business partners to apply within their teams.