Automated Customer Service: Advantages and How to Implement It
The implementation of an automated service system can generate many advantages for your company. With this resource, you reduce the waiting time for support, increase the quality of the experience lived by the consumer, generate satisfaction, increase loyalty rates, and increase financial return. Surveys indicate that more than 90% of consumers believe that good service is given when there is agility in the solution of demands. A good experience is a decisive factor at the time of purchase.
Therefore, we can say that the implementation of an automated service can have a great impact on the operation of your company. This is directly reflected in the satisfaction of your customers.
But, after all, what is the automated service, and how to implement the model?
That is what we are going to talk about in this article. Therefore, keep reading and understand why your company should consider this resource in its strategy.
What is an automated service?
Automated service is a support model that uses technological devices to respond to customer demands, without the need for a human assistant.
For automated service to take place, technological support capable of understanding consumer demands and responding to them is necessary.
As we will see below, one of the most important examples of this form of relationship is the chatbot.
Chatbots are examples of robots that work through chats and can be implemented on your company’s website. For example, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and other customer service channels.
In practice, it works like this: the user sends a message through a chat equipped with this technology and receives assistance from a kind of robot programmed to respond to shared requests.
The whole process happens without human intervention. However, the service can be transferred to a professional if the bot does not have enough information to solve the problem presented.
Even this transfer of support is done automatically or can also be offered as an option to the customer, further enhancing their experience with the company.
Why consider implementing automated processes?
As we have mentioned, the main advantage of the automated service model is the speed with which support is offered.
According to research conducted by Hubspot, a prompt response is considered essential by 90% of customers when they have a query related to customer service. Additionally, 60% of customers define “immediate” as a response time of 10 minutes or less.
What is your company’s average customer service time?
Making customers wait to resolve a problem with your product or service reduces the quality of their experience with your organization.
In this sense, the digital transformation and the automatic operator can act to reduce queues and increase agility in ticket resolution.
After all, a service like a chatbot can serve hundreds of customers at the same time. It will never be busy. In addition, it works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, keeping the service scalable and reducing the maintenance cost of the sector.
However, it is worth noting that the automated service is not a complete replacement for the support provided by human assistants.
In practice, the best work model is precisely the one that integrates service professionals and the devices that allow the automation of the area.
In addition to all these benefits, it is also important to highlight other positive aspects such as the increase in the productivity of service professionals. After all, automated processes make it possible to optimize important area indicators.
Not to mention, they guide professionals to attend to more complex care, instead of spending the day responding to repetitive and simple demands. This even increases the motivation of the attendees.
In short, by implementing automated processes, your company is investing in improving the consumer experience and brand satisfaction, as well as increasing the efficiency of the department.
What are the types of automated services?
We talked about chatbots earlier, but they are not the only means by which you can offer automated customer service for your business.
Remember once again what an automated service is: we are talking about resources that allow a consumer to solve their doubts and problems without the presence of a human assistant.
Therefore, a “frequently asked questions” area within the organization’s website can also be considered a form of automated service. Discover other options below.
Chatbots
Yes, we have already talked about them, but it is impossible to leave them out of this list.
Chatbots allow customers to resolve their queries through a conversation system. They interact with a type of robot capable of understanding their demands, finding and presenting the best solution.
There are different types of chatbots. An option that will offer more complete support to your client is chatbots with artificial intelligence.
These systems learn as they interact with customers, so before reaching the public they are trained internally. They are capable of understanding human natural language and learning from every interaction.
However, there are non-AI chatbots that can also be used to facilitate customer service. However, they act to support the simplest doubts and to resolve general demands.
Chatbots with or without artificial intelligence are quality automated service options.
RPA or robotic process automation
Chatbots are one way to implement the use of robots within your company. However, they generally have a more passive role, receiving customer requests and acting to respond to them.
RPA technology also includes the possibility of creating more active actions with the customer, for example, identifying consumer behavior patterns that indicate that the user has a question, but cannot find a solution.
In those cases, the system can send a chat message and invite the consumer to start a conversation to resolve their claim.
It is also possible to automatically activate a human assistant when it is not possible to find a satisfactory answer through the implemented technology. For example, when the demand is very complex or new to the system.
WhatsApp Business
Looking for a simpler resource to implement an automated service? Within WhatsApp Business, it is possible to create automatic messages that interact with the customer when they contact the brand through the platform. They are welcome or absence messages, for example.
This type of resource, although it does not solve the customer’s demand, is capable of improving their experience, quickly responding to their doubts with simple information such as opening hours.
Do you know that feeling that you sent a message, but no one will read it? Your client will not experience this feeling if you adopt this type of automation.
It is also possible to implement chatbots that work through WhatsApp, which will allow you to take communication within the channel to another level.
Help Center, Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ
The help center is another way to allow the customer to solve their doubts without having to contact an assistant.
The possibility of self-service reduces the waiting time to resolve the demand, after all, the answer is just a few clicks away and it does not depend on anyone to find it.
All you need to do is set up a comprehensive FAQ section that is easy to use and easy for consumers to find. It includes, for example, a search field so that the customer can enter keywords and find what they need.
In addition, we are talking about a relatively cheap and simple to implement, capable of reducing service queues, which also contributes to improving the experience of customers who need to speak with a professional from the organization, because they have more complex demands.
ARU or audible response units
To check your account balance, press 1. If you wish to upgrade your plan, press 2. To cancel your subscription, press 3. To speak with one of our assistants, press 4.
This type of recording is an example of what ARU is. This type of guide should be used to improve the customer experience, but we know that this is not always the case. Calling a company can be a real nightmare. How about changing this view with your customers?
Companies that provide phone support should consider implementing customer service software that can guide the customer to find the information they need, requiring as little effort as possible.
All of this needs to be done quickly and easily because phone service already has a tarnished image from the bad experiences consumers have already had.
How to implement an automated service?
Having understood some of the types of automation that can be implemented within your company, we proceed to the step-by-step on how to implement it.
After all, it is enough to hire a tool that supports the execution of the chosen automation and that’s it? No. A few steps ensure that the technology contributes to the customer experience and increases the productivity of your company.
1. Know your audience and determine which tool will be used
Understanding your audience will help you define the best automation tool option for customer service.
Did you know that 70% of millennial consumers have already interacted with a chatbot and more than 80% are satisfied with their experience?
This is an indication that if your client is part of this age group, chatbots can be good solutions to offer them.
Understand which channels your customers use the most and invest in improving the service they offer.
2. Choose a tool
It is time to search the market for alternative companies that offer automated service options according to what your company wants to implement.
Remember to look for well-known, respected, and supportive tools.
To make use of the various platforms that your company already uses even more strategically, including the automation system, you can integrate tools and make even more use of each resource, without reworking and with more intelligence.
3. Establish processes
Creating a service flow is a must even when you use technology as one of your supporting arms.
The workflow of the service is fundamental and will make the sector even more organized, allowing each step to be carried out and the client to have the best possible experience.
If your business already has a service flow, include the opt-in step in the automated service system.
4. Train your team
Department personnel must be trained in the use of automated service tools. However, you must also understand how to continue providing support to a customer who was arriving through chats and other channels, without success in seeking to resolve a claim.
A complete and easily accessible knowledge base must be built, which guarantees an updated, secure and robust source of information.
5. Monitoring of results
With the entire system of automated processes in place, it is time to measure the results and follow the customer service indicators, which will tell you how much the adopted solutions bring you.
See and compare with historical data and track new metrics. With this data, you will be able to make better decisions regarding the continuous optimization of the area. All this in an assertive way and without unnecessary expenses.
Ready to implement an automated service?
Take advantage of all the benefits that the automated service has to offer your company and your customers and start today to adopt the digital transformation in your business.
