Why Businesses Need for Digitalization of Customer Service
Customers are more aware today than ever before and refuse to settle for anything less than the absolute best. Businesses are realizing the importance of digitalization of customer service in 2022 for ensuring 100% customer satisfaction as it is the only way to ensure long-term profitability. The quality of customer service can make or break a business. It is one of the most important requirements for almost all businesses, irrespective of the industry. Sectors such as healthcare, automobiles, hospitality, travel & tourism, banking, and other services need to ensure quick and efficient customer service in order to stay at the top of their game. It has been observed that in the absence of good customer service, many companies become irrelevant and fade into oblivion.
However, ensuring good customer service is no easy feat. It takes a lot of investing and strategizing for companies to come up with the best customer service solutions. Until recently, most businesses relied on telephone operators and call centers to handle any issues their customers might have.
Although this proved to be useful at that time, we have now come a long way where omnichannel setups have taken the customer management routine to the next level. However, many businesses are still struggling with a poorly strategized customer support model as they continue to stick to manual calling, which is a one-dimensional customer support channel. Manual calling is an inadequate customer support mechanism as it prevents companies from unlocking their true potential. While manual calling may come across as a viable option for extending customer support, it has a number of shortcomings. Not only is it costly and labor-intensive, but it also fails to keep up with the increasing load of calls, which is bound to increase as the business flourishes. This is why software for customer support service is an indispensable tool for businesses to reap the benefits of digitalizing business.
Customer Service Challenges
In several cases, it has been observed that companies that have adopted the latest technologies for customer service struggle to achieve customer satisfaction due to a poor strategy. The key to achieving 100% customer satisfaction lies in a well-thought-out strategy and good implementation. However, the ease of execution of such strategies lies in the robustness of the software solutions being used to execute them. Poorly designed software that does not fit correctly into your business model can be a big deterrent on the way to success.
Some of the most common challenges companies encounter during customer service include:
Poor availability and response time
Manual calling for customer service is more restricting than one can imagine. Customers do not like to be put on hold or to be kept waiting in long queues. However, this is one of the biggest problems with manual calling, as it causes inconvenience to customers. It is also impossible for businesses to be available to their customers 24 hours a day. Digitalized customer service ensures that customers’ calls are answered instantly and their issues are resolved quickly.
Improper handling of calls
It is difficult to handle calls in an organized manner. Handling customer calls manually is challenging as one of the most common problems faced in manual calling is the unprofessional handling of calls by incompetent operators. Despite long conversations with customers, customer service agents often fail to understand the customer’s requirements. This leaves customers’ problems unsolved and ruins the reputation of the company. This problem can be solved with the help of smart call routing, which is one of the many important functions carried out by good customer service software solutions. Softwares for customer support service help both agents and customers as they can save time and resolve issues quickly.
Inadequate after-sale support
Businesses with single-channel customer service struggle to provide appropriate after-sale support to their customers. Customers are often required to wait in call queues for all minor inquiries, such as delivery status, payment-related issues, complaints, and others. Most customers hesitate before buying from businesses that lack a good customer support system, as they do not want to deal with inconveniences later. As a result, businesses lose potential customers and suffer in the long run.
Budget constraints
Businesses hesitate to go digital as they believe it will cost them more. However, this is not the case. While automating the customer service setup may cost more initially, it is an investment that yields long-term results. Manual calling, on the other hand, requires businesses to hire a large number of customer support agents. Therefore, when we consider the long-term costs, digital customer service solutions cost way less and are more profitable as they allow business owners to be more productive.
Poor customer management
In the absence of customer management software solutions, it becomes almost impossible to manage customers effectively. It leaves a lot of room for confusion and causes inconvenience to customers, which can be easily avoided with the help of customer service solutions. In the absence of smart call routing, calls get routed to the wrong agent. Moreover, customers are often required to make multiple calls in order to get their issues resolved. With offline customer service, they have to start from the very beginning each time. It is impossible to track a customer’s journey with offline customer support. Therefore, solving problems can be a hassle and hamper productivity in the long run. There is also no proper mechanism for registering and managing tickets. On the contrary, smart customer management software solutions ensure that dispute resolution is carried out effectively. They are designed in such a way that calling is carried out in a hassle-free way and all operations are easily streamlined. Most businesses have incorporated ticket management software, which is a powerful tool that guarantees 100% customer satisfaction. Customer service solutions keep track of a customer’s journey and enable businesses to provide the right solution for their customers.
Inconsistency in service
Inconsistency is a major challenge that offline customer support struggles with. One of the factors responsible for this is that there is no scientific method by which customer support agents can assess their performance and work to improve it. This is one of the biggest problems that gets addressed with the help of customer management software solutions, as they can track and record calls for assessment in the future. Users can also access other important data and analytical reports related to calling. This enables them to assess their shortcomings and strategize their plans accordingly. As a result, they can be more productive and profitable in the long run.
Customer Service Strategy
In order to ensure the best, uninterrupted service, businesses need to come up with a proper strategy. Customer service strategies need to be logically decided after assessing business-specific requirements. This is why there can't be a one-size-fits-all business strategy because all business models are unique, with unique challenges and goals.
Creating a balanced strategy
It must be noted that customer assistants are still just as relevant as before. Their expertise, however, should be directed toward more complex problems that are difficult to solve. Over-automation proves to be counter-productive in many cases. At times, the IVR menus are unnecessarily long, and as a result, customers have trouble reaching agents when they need to. <brTherefore, it is important to strike the right balance between online and offline customer service. It is equally important to develop an omnichannel strategy, as this enables customers to contact companies using the platform of their choice. A sound strategy not only helps businesses retain clients and improve their reputation but also attracts the attention of potential clients. This is why the importance of a solid customer service strategy should not be undermined.
While all businesses have different strategies, there are certain things that a good strategy must include. These are:
Customer-centric approach: while coming up with a strategy, you should ensure that customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal. When businesses make policies with customer satisfaction as their primary motive, they are able to exceed expectations. This helps them retain customers who remain loyal to their brand.
Identifying the most popular channels–It only makes sense to divert your customer service resources to channels where customers are more likely to reach out to you. Before you come up with a strategy, you must study the behavior of your customers, analyze the most recurring issues and work accordingly. An omnichannel approach is the need of the hour for customer service as it can keep up with the large number of platforms that people use.
Key Performance Indicators: Before you put your strategy into action, you must decide the performance indicators you will rely on for assessment. KPIs indicate the performance of your strategies. This is crucial as it will allow you to improve your strategies and their execution. Some of the important KPIs are the number of active and resolved issues, customer retention rate, average resolution time, etc. A customer satisfaction score and a net promoter score help you assess overall customer happiness and referrals, respectively.
Create an engaging toolkit—Build an omnichannel toolkit using smart software solutions in order to achieve 100% customer satisfaction. Some of the most popular customer service tools are live chat, chat bots, IVR solutions, and ticket management solutions, among several others. The required tools may vary from industry to industry, depending upon the nature of the business. However, there is one thing that should remain constant—the goal of achieving 100% customer satisfaction.
Agent assistance & feedback: While the digitalization of customer service in 2022 is the need of the hour, agent assistance is still relevant and equally important. Customer service agents have the skills necessary for solving more complicated solutions and coming up with unique solutions, which is not possible with AI bots. For issues such as conflict resolution, complaints, and compensation, human input is still irreplaceable. Similarly, customer feedback is a valuable resource that provides useful insights to businesses, which can use it to assess their performance and improve their services. Moreover, it creates a positive image in the customer’s mind.
The Benefits of Digital Customer Service
More and more businesses are expanding their online reach in order to connect with their customers in a better way. Without a doubt, businesses that have an online presence have a competitive edge over other players in the same segment. They benefit immensely from smart softwares for customer relationship management. This is because having an omnichannel presence allows them to connect with their customers on a more personal level. There are numerous benefits to digitalizing customer service.
Time & Cost-effective
Running a call center solely with human assistance costs both time and money. Customers have to wait in long call queues and wait to speak to a human assistant, even when there is an urgency. Employing a large number of people just to entertain customer calls costs companies a fortune. Smart calling solutions digitalize the entire process, helping customers save time and allowing businesses to save money.
24*7 availability
Automated and omnichannel solutions allow businesses to ensure uninterrupted availability for their customers. This results in good customer satisfaction. As a result, businesses are able to retain customers, gain loyalty, and acquire new customers.
A convenient solution
Digital customer service solutions are not limited to calls. They also exist in the form of chat bots, emails, and IVR solutions. This omnichannel presence allows customers to contact businesses on the platform of their choice. On the other hand, businesses can use these platforms for promotional purposes as well.
Productivity and profitability
Automation enables businesses to save time, money, and effort. As a result, they can concentrate their resources on other things that are more complicated and require attention. This enables businesses to be more productive and, in turn, more profitable.
Customizable solutions
Almost all digital solutions can be customized to meet business-specific requirements. Businesses can customize voice and chat bots to serve their target audience in a better way. Similarly, IVR menus and chat scripts can be customized to suit the customer’s requirements. Apart from these, customer management software, ticket management software, and other solutions can also be customized to fit seamlessly into a business model. This makes operations easy for businesses and improves the interaction experience for customers.
Improved customer management
Digital customer service solutions are not just limited to calling and handling customer grievances. It also entails using software solutions and resources for managing and streamlining customer service operations. Software solutions can be used to manage tickets, record customer journeys, and streamline operations. It is also a valuable resource for collecting and processing data for analytics. Real-time reports and performance reports can be used by businesses to assess the performance of their customer service strategy. As a result, they can eliminate their shortcomings and guarantee customer satisfaction.
Best softwares for customer support service for businesses
There are innumerable benefits of digital customer service solutions. However, in order to digitalize customer services, businesses need to invest in several tools and software solutions specifically designed to revolutionize customer service. Some of these are:
Interactive Voice Response
IVR systems are a cost-effective solution for handling calls. Interactive voice response solutions accomplish a number of different tasks with excellent accuracy and efficiency, to the point where a growing number of businesses rely on them to ensure customer service. IVR solutions can be hosted (EasyGoIVR) or on premise (San IVR). However, hosted IVR solutions allow businesses to run remotely.
Voice bot solutions add to the overall customer experience. The San IVR voice bot is suitable for a number of functions, which include promotional campaigns, reminders, confirmations, follow-up calls, appointment scheduling, and more. It is a reliable voice bot solution for completing a broad range of duties.
IVR blasting helps businesses expand their outreach and gain more customers.SanOBD bulk voice calling software is an effective and result-oriented IVR software that helps businesses achieve quick results.
Ticket Management Software for Customer Relationship Management
Investing in good ticket management tools helps businesses take their customer service to the next level. It enables businesses to deal with complaints and disputes more efficiently.
SanTMS is one of the best ticket management softwares for customer relationship management.It helps businesses provide best-in-class customer service. It is a multi-featured solution that allows companies to be more productive and successful.
Voice Logging Software
Businesses and call centers should invest in voice logging systems as logged calls can act as tangible evidence in the event of a dispute. Voice logging software ensures transparency, which is the most important thing for a business to be successful. Call recorders play a key role in ensuring transparency and resolving conflicts.
SanLogger, created by SAN Technologies, is a voice recording software that ensures that all your calls get recorded accurately so that they can prove to be useful should the need arise.
Customizable solutions for customer service
In order to ensure the best customer service, businesses can rely on customizable software development. As businesses grow and expand, it becomes increasingly difficult for businesses to keep up with the ever-increasing customer grievances. Therefore, it is more feasible for businesses to create a custom-built software solution that allows them to provide uninterrupted services to their customers. Customized software solutions are scalable and allow businesses to provide the best possible support to their customers.
About SAN Softwares
SAN Softwares, a leading software development company in India, has been providing the best customer service solutions to several industries. We provide customizable software solutions that are reliable and help businesses reap the benefits of digital customer service. We provide customizable customer service solutions, depending upon the nature of your business and its requirements. Our software solutions are easy to install and use, and can be integrated with the existing telephony setup and other systems. It is a one-time investment that helps large organizations and contact centers exceed customer expectations. Our multi-featured calling solutions handle calls efficiently and streamline business operations, thereby allowing businesses to be more productive and profitable.
