Technology Trends That Will Radically Change The Face Of Customer Care

Customer experience is directly proportional to sales. This is a universal law that plays equally for all brands and organizations irrespective of the fact whether it is a new establishment or a veteran in the industry. Successful customer experience in most cases leads to conversion.

Customer service is not a new department. It has been around for ages; however, organizations today are more focused in serving customers in the best way possible by adding various avenues and means to engage with them directly. Companies now have special teams and centres to manage customer issues and for after sale services. With the basic objective of keeping the customers satisfied, customer service is not confined to occasional responses to frustrated customers over a phone call anymore. In a current scenario, aiding customers has got a much larger role to play. Their experience can either make or break a brand.

Some of the customer service trends that has popularised over recent years and trends that are expected to gain limelight are discussed hereunder:

Customers Take Control and That's How It Should Be

Smart organization leaders understand that customers nowadays like to take things in their own hand. Internet has given them a wide platform and they are not afraid to make good use of it. Earlier when customers faced any issues with the product, they couldn't do much about it. Whether the company resolves the problem or let you sulk was totally upto the organization. Today, you could scream out loud and let the entire world know about your foul experience.

Quick, Customized Responses

Social media is a blessing for businesses that knows the power it holds and knows how to use it. It's a curse for ignorant. However, it doesn't matter if you love it or hate it, it has become a prominent customer service channel. If your business is not on social media yet, better get it on board so that you can keep up with your customer's demands. Social media is not just a direct link between customer and a brand. It is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate your ability to resolve customer's issues in real-time and apologize on a public platform as people care a lot about companies realizing their mistakes. It also makes you appear humane and modest. Scripted responses don't entice customers anymore and social media gives you a chance to cater to customer one-on-one.

Text Alerts and Notifications

Customers today are more than delighted to get messages for fraud alerts, payment reminders, travel status, appointments, reservations, sales and discount notifications, special offers and promotions. Business-to-consumer communication through text messages are very popular in today's scenario. Texting is a convenient way for instant message delivery. It stays in your message box and can be accessed through couple of clicks. It proactively engages the customer and matches perfectly with the busy lifestyle of today's customer.

Consistent Service

The biggest pain point for customers is inconsistency and lack of knowledge among representatives. The inability of agents to answer customer's question and provide adequate resolution followed by a "sorry script" is more annoying than the problem itself. Though most companies offer 24*7 customer care accessibility, but the type of workforce they employ are not always up to par. It is the combination of right agents with right tech tools to make a standout customer service.

Involving Applications to Offer High-end Customer Service

Companies have already incorporated most of the above mentioned techniques in their system to deliver super ordinate customer service. However, there is still a move that can take after sales and customer service a notch higher. Providing a mobile app platform to handle customer's queries is a much awaited service for tech savvy country like India. An app that aggregates different companies under one roof, makes it a lot more convenient for customers to access. The time people waste while waiting on IVRs can be bartered with easy clicks on app. After all, pressing complex key combinations and memorizing reference ids is not the most fun thing to do. Customers would love to skip these options and get to the solution directly.

Raising bar for customer service is necessity for businesses to maintain a sustainable growth pattern. Customers' expectations are tremendous and companies should be very prompt to deliver to their expectations. If your customers are happy your business will flourish.