Today’s customers want everything in a snap, with simplified payment methods and same-day deliveries becoming more common among businesses.
Instant demand applies to customer service as well. In fact, more than 82% of consumers expect an immediate response for marketing and sales questions, according to a recent report by HubSpot. A Conversocial paper found more than 37% of people want to get an answer within 30 minutes of a social media inquiry.
Fast responses are essential to keep your brand image positive for your current customers and potential ones. A 2019 Hubspot survey of customer service professionals discovered more than 89% of the respondents stated that customers are now more inclined to share experiences than ever before.
Unfortunately, you can’t always keep up with customer questions and requests.. You have reports to file, inventory to check, and employees to manage. However, there are two solutions available to you. One, you can employ customer service representatives, or you can set up a chatbot to keep up with your clients’ fast-paced demands.
Here’s what you need to know about these two customer service essentials, and when to use them.
Chatbot Revolution
Chatbots are artificial intelligence programs designed to simulate human conversations by providing pre-written responses to statements and questions given by humans. About 80% of businesses are expected to have AI-powered automation by 2020, according to Outgrow. Many Silicon Valley giants are now providing chatbot services, such as IBM, with their Watson Assistant, and Facebook, with their Messenger bots. So why are these bots so popular?
-They’re Always Online – Unlike their human counterparts, bots don’t need to eat and rest. They’re in action 24/7 to answer simple queries from customers.
-They’re Intuitive – Chatbots can do tasks that an app typically does. Domino’s Pizza, for example, allows customers to order and customize their pizza solely through their chatbot.
-They’re on Your Customers’ Favorite Platforms – It’s better to engage and help customers within applications they’re already familiar with. Messenger, which moves more than 20 billion instant messages daily and can send messages and notifications directly to the user’s account, allowing you to provide customer service whether customers are on their computers or their phones.
Classic Customer Service Reps
Despite the rise of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots, customer service representatives (CSRs) are still vital to any business. A 2016 study by Accenture found 83% of consumers still prefer talking to humans.
Though bots can pull up automated answers to your customers’ questions, their database is often limited to simple problems. They can’t solve highly technical issues, such as glitches in the payment portal or warranty problems. As such, they may provide the same response over and over, give an answer that doesn’t solve the problem, or not respond at all to your client’s complicated queries.
A human representative is trained to improvise and come up with detailed answers to these complex problems. For payment issues, they can pull up records to see if there really was a glitch on the company’s end. For warranty problems, an experienced CSR can ask the customers to describe what happened to the product or send in pictures to determine if they’re entitled to free service or replacements.
The Verdict
Given the increasing consumer demand for instant responses and human interaction, both CSRs and chatbots are essential; they should work together to improve customer service in your business. Because bots take on the easy-to-answer questions like order tracking, they allow your reps to focus on complex problems that need creativity to solve, like technical issues and complaints. This balance between man and machine enables you to provide an efficient service that’s worth recommending.