Most of us know the drill these days; have a problem with a product and you call the company to sort it out. It sounds simple, but often, it can turn into a whole other issue. You’re sat on the phone for almost an hour, only to be so frustrated you’ll need another hour on the other side to calm down. More often than not, this stress is automated phone services that seem to act as impassable gatekeepers to actual humans.
Often if you do get through to a human, it’ll be them that get it in the neck. And no wonder – after hearing ‘Did you know you could look online?’ and ‘your call is important to us’ over and over again it’s unsurprising many customers feel fobbed off. Technology is meant to make things more convenient and more efficient, but often it has the opposite effect.
But this fact is nothing new. So what are companies doing actually to improve the situation? There’s no doubt that automated customer service is here to stay – but what does the future have in store?
It’s no secret customers are dissatisfied
In a recent survey of 220 US and UK-based companies conducted by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), 90% said customer service was essential to their success. In an increasingly competitive environment, they know that it’s service that will be the key differentiator. Management consultants Bain & Company agree; they argue that investment in customer service is imperative and that customer service staff must be continuously upskilled.
There’s a shedload of data to support this idea and maximise return on investment. After all, good customer service is essential to keeping customers. It’s well known that it’s far cheaper to keep a customer than attract a new one (some say by as many as ten times), so good customer service makes the best business sense.
Remote working could get us back on track
Despite the prevalence of new customer service channels, the vast majority of customers would still rather speak to a human being. However, their confidence in human agents remains low. According to research, 90% report that they found people in call centres ineffective at dealing with issues.
However, remote working could turn the tides. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that remote working was possible, if not preferable. Airtasker recently published statistics that suggest that remote workers are more productive due to the time saved commuting. Productive customer service agents are effective customer service agents, so perhaps the remotely staffed centre could see the dawn of a brave new world.
Personal service no longer has to be a luxury
Strategy consulting giants McKinsey calculated that personalised customer service could make marketing spend efficiency between 10 and 20% better. But now, personalised service needn’t only be the domain of one-on-one customer relationships for small firms, or indeed of data-driven behemoths. Now, Customer Data Platforms are more affordable than ever. SMEs can use these tools to quickly and seamless access customer accounts and track behaviour.
A blend of back to basics and new technology
It seems that the future of customer service may be more human. This is a silver lining brought by the pandemic, where remote customer service agents might be the key to getting us back on the phone with a human. However, further down the food chain, smaller businesses shouldn’t see this as a signal to abandon new technologies. Instead, they should leverage them to create that perfect balance – data-driven, with a human touch.