Considering excellent customer experience is the only basis of sustainable differentiation in the competition to win the new generation of tech-savvy customers, and the only way for call centers to attain this is through digital transformation. Today, digital technology is having some influence in every aspect of our lives, including call centers.
Call Center Digitization
Customers’ expectations and demands are shifting and they have a lot more power and control than ever before. Today, customers expect greater business transparency and corporate responsibility since they are now more comfortable using technology and use digital channels more often. They desire digital self-service, mobile and social media interaction as they move between different channels
Few recent reports have shown that almost 50% of customers believe there is a decrease in voice-based customer services and 90% rise in non-voice customer service interactions.
This is the outcome of the new generation digital customers who believe using email, social media, web chat, ai sms and self-service channels more convenient and effective than a phone.
Due to these growing customer demands, call centers are digitally transforming. Cloud computing, analytics, mobile computing and social networks are all noteworthy technology trends being implemented by the call centers which are having huge impacts on customer service. Integrating digital mediums for customer interaction is vital for call centers now.
With digital services, businesses can effortlessly measure and comprehend the whole customer journey and not just enhance individual contact points. Providing proactive services and seamless communication across channels will assist in bringing a differentiated experience, thus increasing customer loyalty and repeat sales. Nowadays, consumers expect 24/7 support from businesses.
According to recent call center case studies, companies that offer multi-channel support enjoy twice the more (9.7% vs. 3.9%) customer fulfillment year on year.
Specific technologies that businesses are using to empower digital customer experience are Social CRM, Video Chat, Intelligent FAQs, Live Chat and Mobile. Voice is still used for most enquiries, but customers may be routed there through IVR. Largely for resolving complaints and closing accounts, voice is still considered to be the best choice by many.
Intelligent FAQs are mostly used for basic info and service enquiries. They promote self-service and also lessen the volume of contacts, thus boosting efficiency. Video chat is still developing and not being exploited by all but is gradually gaining popularity in leading businesses as a communication channel. Social media is being commonly implemented by numerous businesses to engage with customers and manage feedbacks and complaints. Since individuals have access to social media 24/7, this medium is best suitable for them to interact with brands.
Transition to these channels enables quicker resolution of customer issues, improved engagement opportunities, enhanced customer experience which lead to lesser operational cost, heightened cross-sell and up-sell and better customer loyalty and satisfaction. It also empowers businesses to better meet the changing demands of customers by enabling them to interact on their own terms.
businesses are also looking forward to improving customer interaction by integrating human touch in digital experiences. By merging a right channel approach with proactive service, businesses can boost conversion rates as well as sales revenues considerably.
Still, there are certain things that businesses need to contemplate before digitizing their call centers. These are:
Clearly Understand the Current State
Call centers are data-driven entities of a business where each and every customer engagement is evaluated and scrutinized. Dashboards and reports are readily accessed by call center managers. So, when determining the need to transform to a digital call center, it is vital to know where to begin.
Evaluate and scrutinize the current volumes across all channels like chat, email, phone, and so on. Then determine the cost associated with individual channel. You also have to reflect what are the overall concerns being provided by each channel. For instance- through emails a business is receiving more of billing-related issues and complaints are regularly channeled through phone calls. The more you comprehend the issue type mix of each communication platform, the better you can strategize the transformation.
Unravel the Complexity
It is vital for businesses to be well acquainted with the intricacies involved in transforming call centers. One modification in the system can affect the functionalities of many other things. Your contact center ai technology should be adaptable enough to allow these deviations. And if not, then be aware of its effect at various points and prioritize your implementation method based on what’s most vital to customers.
It goes without saying that fulfilling customer expectations should be the foremost objective of any call center. They must find ways to streamline processes to improve customer ease. Hence, call centers must scrutinize extensively “what is most vital to the customer and how technology can assist in delivering it”.
For instance- Is your effort of decreasing hold time causing an upsurge in dropped calls? Consider other options such as providing them the ability to choose call-back or request them to send an email to have their issues resolved quicker. This will decrease customer waiting time and also lessen the workload on call center agents due to substantial volume of calls.
Review your Staff
Call centers will have to review their staff to ensure that they are ready for this new role. They need to be good listeners, communicators, and relationship-builders to sustain in this kind of setting. The important thing here is to build a multi-skilled team to offer better customer experience. Agents should have an understanding how to manage both voice and digital mediums.
Giving your staff multi-channel abilities will provide you with adaptability when handling resources across all channels. It will stop the agents from performing similar tasks on a daily basis, thus decreasing monotony and churn rate. On the other hand, customers would be free to engage with the same agent across various channels to get their problems resolved, enabling them stay in their comfort zone.
Customers’ Viewpoint
As the needs of customers evolve, businesses are slowly employing solutions to deal with customers in their ideal communication channel. Offering FAQs online which individuals can access for their routine queries can critically reduce call traffic and save time of both customers and call center staff. Likewise, an option to converse with an agent while looking to order an item on the company’s website can vastly boost the probability of conversion.