Whether relevant or irrelevant: Online customer service’s foreseeable future
Support teams are at a crossroads: while budget and headcount are shrinking, business costs and customer demands are rising.
Modern customers want a personalized, on-demand experience from organizations when it comes to assistance; however, just 34% of support leaders are sure they can deliver on this promise.
In order to close this gap, effective, individualized help is key. The time has come for support leaders to level up their prior support approaches and implement new ones.
The innovative strategy that businesses need for updated customer service is to assist your customers in the context of what they are doing, at the precise moment that they need it. But don’t worry if you’re not yet familiar with “in-context support”; today, we’re going to demonstrate its effectiveness and show you how to launch your plan.
What does context-aware customer support entail?
Supporting consumers in context means addressing their issues as they arise—that is when they are using your product, application, or website. With the help of an automated messenger with self-serve features, your staff is able to give consumers the support they require at the exact time they require it.
Without investing in several tools or increasing your personnel, you can transform your support team into a key value generator by integrating in-context help into your tech stack.
So how can it change your offering into a loyalty-fostering experience?
By including a messenger in your product, you can assist users right away, whether they’re on your website, app, or product itself.
Automation shortens the time it takes to address problems. With the help of chatbots, clients can self-serve within the messenger or have simple, repeated questions answered.
Your team is then free to concentrate on handling VIP and high-priority questions as a result.
Through chatbots, surveys, third-party connections, and other cutting-edge technology, a messenger may automatically collect rich, real-time first-party data for you. Your team can switch between tools like chat, email, and phone easily without losing context thanks to the customer data and conversation history that is carried between channels. Your team is equipped to offer more individualized, effective support because they have access to all of this context, and consumers will spend less time repeating themselves.
With contextual data at your disposal, you can also develop highly individualized and focused customer experiences throughout the whole customer journey, including customized proactive outbound communications and incredibly accurate chatbot responses.
Cross-channel conversation history synchronization enables your team to deliver individualized, effective support without losing context.
Why is context-based customer service the future of customer service?
Engaging with and keeping your existing clients is easier (and more efficient) than acquiring new ones, especially as the digital landscape becomes a more competitive space for businesses in all industries. In actuality, acquiring a new customer is five times more expensive than keeping an old one. Additionally, existing customers account for 65% of an average company’s revenue, so it pays off, in the long run, to keep them satisfied.
The ability to satisfy and inform your customers, address their problems, and generally strengthen their relationship with your brand has a vital impact on retention. This is a difficult task, though, as modern clients seek a personalized, on-demand service that fits their schedules. Additionally, if a business doesn’t change to fit in with the new norms, customers will look at rivals that do.
The new consumer mindset is “always-on, always in context, always a click away, and delivered in an instant.”
The new consumer mindset is one of being always on, always in context, always a click away, and delivered in an instant. And when you provide customers with contextual support, you are able to do just that by taking advantage of the moment when a customer looks at you – whether it be in your product, on your website, or in your app. You can not only fulfill these client expectations thanks to automation and self-serve help, but you can also advance your support personnel to become extremely effective business partners that can keep customers.
How can you guarantee a secure support environment?
The solution is to pay close attention to these three crucial areas:
Old habits are hard to break, but standards are rising.
Improve your communication strategies because expectations are rising and old behaviors are difficult to break. Although customers still expect to be able to reach you by phone and email, adding a messenger to your current tech stack enables you to provide help instantly and across channels. Your team members will therefore have more time to handle more complicated issues, including dealing with emotionally charged complaints, billing questions, and assisting irate clients who are at risk of leaving your business as a result of automation and enabling customers to self-serve. Consequently, you won’t need to hire more people because of increased efficiency.
The data is the fuel for efficiency, and within lies the devil. Customers want to be known and understood, and they anticipate quick interactions with context following them from one channel to another. That’s no small task, but the most effective method to accomplish it all is to be able to automatically gather first-party data from your consumers, such as their contact information, preferences, and problems. You may gather detailed information to improve automation, self-serve support, and your overall customer experience by implementing tools like chatbots, surveys, third-party integrations, and other cutting-edge technology.
Make your technology stack cross-functional and effective! Because their technologies are not integrated with one another, 47% of customer support staff struggle with inefficiency. Your team gets access to all the information and conversation history they require thanks to the integration of your primary customer communication platforms, such as a messenger, a robust inbox, email, and phone. This enables them to assist your consumers effectively and personally without having to switch tools. Your current customer service channels, such as phone and email, are easily integrated with the SimpSocial messenger and inbox.
What are the context-specific business advantages of providing support?
Cut back on investment costs
Any support leader will find those three words to be music to their ears: “This cuts costs.” By increasing operational effectiveness, providing in-context support turns your support team from a cost center into a value driver.
Reduced inbound volume means a lower cost to serve your human support team.
As a result, customer service agents are better equipped to focus on where they can make the biggest difference—providing customized, complicated support to customers.
This raises team morale, which lowers the high costs of staff turnover and training new workers.
Faster resolution times and shorter first response times result in resolving customers’ issues as they arise.
Improve client loyalty
As we’ve already shown, in-context help is crucial for keeping clients, which offers a number of advantages for your bottom line:
Faster resolution times and shorter first response times result from resolving customers’ issues right away, on-site.
Customers are happier and more inclined to stay with companies that respond and resolve issues quickly, which increases client lifetime value and boosts profitability.
Sales increase as reputation grows.
Reputation, on the other hand, is something that must be earned and cannot be purchased.
Customers are more likely to become brand ambassadors for your company when the quality of your customer care is improved through in-context help.
Customers will feel compelled to return for this quick, effective, and customized experience over and over again with automation shortening time to resolution, bots collecting first-party data, your messenger contextually targeting customers, and your support team freed up to handle more complex queries.
Repeat clients often spend 67% more than new ones, boosting your company’s profitability. In addition, 64% of customers are more likely to recommend businesses to others after having a good experience, which results in more clients and more revenue.
Every support discussion is a chance to promote loyalty and expansion.
Every stage of the customer journey offers the chance to establish a strong, enduring relationship with a client, but it also presents the chance for problems or other pain points to arise for the consumer.
With the correct tools, you can remove these obstacles as they arise (or even before they do!) and offer your customers inside your product, app, and website speedy, tailored, and relevant help. Are you prepared to upgrade your support plan? Find out more about utilizing in-context customer service here.
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