Customers are expecting more and more from their experiences from customer service representatives. This trend is forcing many companies to begin rethinking how they approach customer service within their organizations. Technology is advancing and playing a major role in this shift. Automation, connected devices, artificial intelligence and other technologies are helping organizations address the needs of its customers more effectively and efficiently.
Experts predict that in the coming decade, almost 90% of all interactions with customer service representatives will be handled with technology and chatbots. With the addition of omnichannel customer service environments, organizations must prepare for changes in the expectations of their customers. They need to invest in their representatives and adjust customer service technology accordingly. Below are some technologies that are going to help shape the future of customer service.
Chatbots
Chatbots for customer service is a type of technology that employs conversational agents using the software. To stimulate conversations within an organization to its customers, it will mimic spoken and written speech. The use of chatbots can allow organizations to help customers 24/7. If a chatbot is not able to address the concerns or questions of the customer, they may then be transferred to a live agent for additional help. A benefit of chatbot technology is that it allows more customers to be helped with their simple needs.
Face-To-Face Video Communications
Currently, more and more consumers prefer communication with a live agent. In the next couple of years, communication using face-to-face video software is going to increase. Eye contact can be powerful for customers, and it will soon replace voice conversations over the phone. Eye contact helps to improve business-to-consumer relationships and helps facilitate openness. Because of this, video conferencing is a growing expectation for many consumers and a viable tool to improve business relations.
Artificial Intelligence For Simple Tasks
Within traditional business contact centers, the frontline agents get overwhelmed by completing simple tasks repetitively. This can take away their time from being able to effectively service customers. Tasks such as categorizing and tagging emails, responding to and rerouting calls and responding to simple queries can effectively diminish overall job satisfaction for customer service representatives.
A major shift is happening that will allow artificial intelligence to perform many simple tasks. This will allow an agent to focus more on offering better service interactions with their customers and will lead to an improvement in customer retention, satisfaction and overall lifetime value.
Social Media To Proliferate Complaints
More and more businesses are putting time and effort into their social media accounts. Consumers love to use social media to voice their love and hate for a brand. Now, consumers are vastly more connected than ever before in this mobile-first economy. Instead of waiting till they get home to post a bad Yelp review, they will immediately post on their social media accounts to complain directly to the company in front of their followers and any followers of the company.
For customer service, this can be both good and bad for business. Positive interactions with customers can increase brand awareness and grow a company quickly. On the other hand, negative interactions and complaints from customers can be bad for business. In the future, the barriers for complaining through social media will decrease as the functionality of the platforms evolve. Brands will need to address how they go forward using these channels to connect with their customers.
Many experts are suggesting that we are in what’s called an “Empathy Economy”. Consumers these days want everything right away. To keep up with consumer expectations, companies and brands need to successfully craft strategies to approach areas, such as outsourcing customer service and mobile messaging. They will need to place emphasis on freeing up time for their service representatives using some of the technologies listed. As companies adjust, they will effectively increase the satisfaction of their customers. They will protect their brand’s image and shift their customer service into a profit center for their business.