4 Ways to Stay Ahead of the Customer Experience Transformation
Let’s be honest: COVID-19 has changed the way we do everything, in some cases, permanently. There has been a drastic shift in the way we live, shop, work, and do business.
We’ve adapted to many of these changes in our personal lives but are still learning how to translate these changes to the way we do business. Through this transformation, one thing is constant: customer relationships remain vital for continued success.
As we all worked to navigate the global pandemic, organizations that put customer support front and center prospered. But customer support is only one piece of the customer experience. There are many touchpoints along the customer journey, and it’s important to provide thoughtful support at each one of them.
I view this from both a human and financial perspective. The pandemic has changed the customer service (CS) and customer experience (CX) landscape. Customer service has evolved from an afterthought into a critical aspect of the overall customer experience. A business segment once deemed as a cost center, customer service is now a major growth driver. In a time of isolation, human contact is more meaningful. How you treat your customers defines your company and how it is perceived in the market. All of this combines to create memorable, quality customer experiences that drive revenue for your organization. If you’re missing even one piece of the puzzle, your customer experience will suffer, and you will feel the impact to your bottom line.
While the customer experience is transforming at a rapid pace alongside digital transformation, there are a few ways you can stay one step ahead.
Leverage digital transformation to help customers through new channels.
Customers want you to meet them where they are, and they want their interactions with your business to be convenient and quick. The pandemic has only increased their expectations for the companies with which they do business.
One of the biggest expectations is 24/7 support. It’s necessary if you want to satisfy customers while keeping up with competitors. One of the key channels enabling around-the-clock support are messaging platforms. Throughout the pandemic, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have provided an increasingly popular support channel with their messaging apps. Nearly a third of customers messaged a company for the first time in 2020, and 74 percent say they will continue to do so.
Messaging is an innovative way to communicate with and support customers. It enables agents to handle multiple tickets at once, while saving customers time on the phone listening to annoying hold music. We can all relate, right? Support via messaging also provides customers with quick answers, especially with the advent of chatbots. Sometimes you have a simple question that doesn’t require a conversation, and that is where chatbots shine.
Adding a messaging platform into your customer support repertoire will make it easier for your agents to help customers, making your customers happier in the long run.
