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 believe support is entering a new era. Customers want more personalized, hassle-free help, whenever and however they need it. Automated customer service is how we're getting there. Support volumes are up and teams are stretched thin. Here's how automation can help.

Table Of Content 

Automated customer service answers common customer questions without a human agent involved, similar to how an FAQ page works. 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.

Cost-Effective

Building a machine-learning tool is a one-time investment, and it costs far less than staffing a full support team. Compare that to the resources required to scout, interview, hire, train, and subsequently keep humans on the payroll as customer service operators. That cost efficiency leads directly to another benefit: personalization.

Personalisation

With enough training, machine learning delivers accurate, automated support. It can even tailor responses to match what each customer responds to best. 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. In our experience, this level of personalization boosts customer satisfaction. Higher satisfaction means better retention, and a lower churn rate, which eventually gives us a competitive edge in the market.

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.

Efficient

It's not humanly possible to staff round-the-clock shifts that consistently deliver top-quality service. Human agents get tired, distracted, and affected by their mood, it's simply part of being human. Human operators are also error-prone and often, slow. Compare that to an automated system: available 24/7, consistent, and cost-efficient. The advantage is clear. 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.

Sophistication in Communication

Voicebots and chatbots cut down the long wait times common in IVR queues. Customers get self-service support without repeating themselves. 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 bots are also becoming a standard part of customer service.

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.

Every brand depends on the goodwill of its customers, and that goodwill is built by what it does today. We treat customer satisfaction as a core asset and work to stay ahead of what's available in the market. Automated customer service is now core to how we operate, and we recommend the same approach to our partners.