Customer service automation, if properly implemented, can precisely provide what organizations require. It can reduce the load on human customer service agents while also operating both quickly and effectively. It can also boost customers' satisfaction by rapidly providing them with the correct answer.
The Marketing Automation Software market will increase at an annual rate of 8.55 percent through 2022, reaching a market value of US$ 6.4 billion by 2024. According to Emailmonday, more than 51% of businesses are already adopting Marketing Automation. Over 58 percent of companies intend to use it. Seventy-five percent of respondents stated they would rather interact with a human than an artificial assistant.
Let's see if customer service automation is worth the hype or if it's a rabbit hole you mustn't encounter.
What is the meaning of Automated Services?
Many human-centric services integrate into a streamlined, software-based online platform known as service automation. Services protect the integrity of the service while automating background processes to ensure a consistent user experience.
What is Customer Service Automation?
Customer service automation is a client service procedure that eliminates the need for humans to respond to customer questions. Self-service resources, proactive messaging, and simulated chat sessions are examples of automated customer assistance.
Some automated customer support systems are listed below:
- Email automation: Auto-generated email responses are used as a placeholder until an agent reviews the requestor as a first-level response, leading users to the proper solutions.
- Live chat: This feature lets consumers initiate customer support discussions with human agents or chatbots from practically anywhere on your website.
- Chatbots: Automated chatbots powered by artificial intelligence reply similarly to a human agent, answering basic questions or guiding clients to the proper resources.
- CRM-related automation: Customer relationship management (CRM) software may automatically personalize and deliver message responses, transfer consumers into different queues and segmentation groups, and more.
- Social media monitoring: These automated solutions scan social mentions and alert you when something on social requires your attention. It frees up sales staff or interns who would otherwise be committed to actively monitoring Twitter and Facebook.
- SMS messaging: Text messages can automatically offer pertinent information by using several apps and mobile carriers.
- Questions and Answers (FAQs): As you probably know, an FAQ page collects helpful information grouped as frequently asked questions by your customers and clients. It's very beneficial as a self-service customer assistance tool.
- Knowledge base: To create a self-service customer support library, many firms give articles, tutorials, product setup pages, and other comparable materials. Customers can be directed to these resources by automated customer service tactics and human agents, reducing manual encounters and escalations.
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response): IVR stands for interactive voice response (a prerecorded voice) that gathers information from customers. Also, it provides them with options and automatically transfers them to the appropriate department. Natural language processing is a feature of several IVR solutions that allows them to interpret and direct what clients say.
A group of customer care representatives has traditionally assisted customers. These support employees used inbound phone calls, email, and other channels to manage service engagements. As the company grew, so did the demand for additional support personnel.
Unfortunately, recruiting incurs additional costs for the business. As a result, customer service automation has evolved into a cost-cutting strategy for scaling support without compromising quality.
Hype for Automated Customer Service is going to be worth it!
Nowadays, business managers see the potential of automated customer service in reaching out to more customers and increasing sales. However, businesses continue to struggle with deciding whether to stick with the old ways or follow the tides of progress. Furthermore, business owners must weigh the upsides and downsides of each strategy.
These are the reasons why Customer Service Automation is worth the hype.
Avoid human error
Human mistakes don't exist where you employ technology. Even if you recruit the best personnel, you must understand that errors may occur. Anyone, at any time, can be affected. Automation is the best key if your firm wants to focus on resolving and minimizing human mistakes. The majority of support representative responsibilities are repetitive. People can efficiently complete these regular jobs. However, when a job is made redundant, the service quality suffers dramatically.
Another example would be that people have a propensity for forgetfulness. It is natural for people to forget critical things, especially when overworked. However, the benefit of automation is that it is programmed not to overlook essential facts in each end-user concern. It can upload a large volume of information and memory with minimal mistakes. Humans are also prone to errors in routine chores. Even if you recruit highly skilled agents, you can't expect them to execute flawlessly.
Minimize the long queue
It is critical as a customer service provider not to keep your customers waiting for long periods. Long lines are a significant source of consumer unhappiness and negatively influence your company. If you continue to have troubles, you have at least two options. Either recruit additional people or streamline the queueing system. You can simplify the queuing process by using automated customer service. How? Bots and other communication channels reduce the time it takes to help each consumer, regardless of how severe or complicated their problem is. They won't have to wait as long for you to address their issues and concerns this way.
There is a massive queue of customers, for example. However, your team can only handle so many individuals in a single day. It lessens the stress on both end-users and customer support workers by sending callers and inquirers towards a more hi-tech and hassle-free method of assisting them with their problems.
Lower your costs
Automated customer service assists you in running a productive team. You don't need to hire more in-house staff because there is software that can reply to your end-users without constant human intervention or supervision. In other words, if you have the correct technological equipment or program, you won't need to hire more employees as your organization grows.
When you consider it, hiring more staff appears to be the best way to improve your client assistance methods. However, when you put it all up, it quickly becomes unsustainable. You can conduct surveys to determine which items or components of your services require improvement and what your customers require. Another thing to consider is whether your overall budget can accommodate the additional employees. You can then decide whether to hire more personnel or improve your customer service.
Flexible implementation
It's critical for your business's success to effectively answer end-user wants and requests, even if you're too busy to manage every communication channel. You cannot ignore customer service calls, yet you cannot sacrifice operations.
As your company grows, you may decide that outsourcing your user support desk services is the best solution. A corporation that outsources uses a third-party service provider's resources to solve inbound and outgoing calls and nonverbal contact with clients. It also means you're working with a larger, more sophisticated pool of tech specialists worldwide.
Conclusion
The Customer service automation market will increase at an annual rate of 8.55 percent through 2022, reaching a market value of US$ 6.4 billion by 2024. Customer service automation is a client service procedure that eliminates the need for humans to respond to customer questions.
The hype for customer service and support automation may be worth it to tempt you to automate everything. If you want a perfect strategy to increase your company's customer service, you must give technology the green light. Automation is always available through live chat, customer care, and email to help deliver better service to your clients.
BotPenguin provides client care that will significantly benefit your company. Our organization is here to help you succeed by providing custom-tailored solutions to meet your business's demands and help you achieve your objectives!
