- Automation is the rage in business, and why the hell not?
Absolutely you should be automating
where possible to increase efficiency,
but nobody really talks about the parts you should.
(upbeat music)
- Hey guys, it's Trav here from Neighbourhood.
Where we help brands find, sell and keep their people.
There's a place for automating customer service,
but don't be too quick to rule out
the human element altogether.
Customer service is at the forefront
of successful businesses and customers have come to expect
world-class service, regardless of what they're buying.
The most important factor for customers nowadays,
is short response times when dealing with support.
To provide exceptional customer service
and short response times it doesn't necessarily
need to cost a business, an arm and a leg to be efficient.
We've touched on automation before
and how it can save you a mountain of time and money
and make you look like you're spinning 30 plates at once.
In customer service, it's no different.
With the right automation, you can provide your customers
with the support they need without having to lift a finger.
But that's not always how things play out.
If you don't want to accidentally create more work
for yourself and your customer, then listen up.
The do's.
Do use it for categorising inquiries to gain more context.
We're big fans of live chat and chat bots,
as a part of your customer service strategy,
setting up a bot to answer your customer service queries
can save you time and the convenience for your customer
is next to none.
If certain departments look after certain queries,
rather than heading to a central inbox
and your team can make contact to ask more questions,
set up that chat bot, to ask those questions for you.
Based on their answer, you can connect them
with the right person in the right department
and go into that conversation with clear context.
Do.
Sending followup emails and communication.
Once you've solved the user's issue,
a well-timed follow up email to check in,
to see if the issue resolved
or a transcript of the support session
can show you're serious about helping them.
Set up automation to follow up a support issue
within 24 hours of it closing,
to ensure everything has been done to help.
And there is no frustrations or pain points left unanswered.
There is nothing worse than having
part of your question answered and the support team
completely tapping out.
Do have your automation answer questions where possible.
If you have a knowledge base or FAQ,
then set up your chat bot or forms to the user
to suggest articles to read.
Although they may not necessarily find the answer
they're looking for in most situations,
with the right knowledge base,
the question can be answered without the need
of the use of support team.
An important part to note is to ensure that regardless,
if they find an answer or not with the automated chat bot,
that they have the opportunity to be linked directly
with a member of your support team.
Do.
Automate your net promoter scores
for responses both positive and negative.
Net promoter scores are a way of tracking how customers
are feeling each month or quarter.
This is especially important for longterm relationships,
but they work equally as well for one of sales.
It allows you to get real time feedback
from your customers and helps you identify issues
and areas to improve your service.
As a part of your customer retention strategy
is absolutely vital to always be improving.
If you don't already collect net promoter scores
from your customers, then we've got a trick on getting more
customer reviews that you'll absolutely love.
Do.
Collect the user's information right off the bat.
If your team are too busy, away from their desk,
or it's outside of office hours,
you need a way to get in contact with that customer.
The very first step in a customer contacting support
through a form, live chat, or over the phone
should involve you collecting their name
so that you can address them personally,
and their email address so that if you get disconnected,
you can still contact them again.
This is essential.
If they aren't already a paying customer or lead.
It gives you important contact information,
which then can be passed onto the sales team.
Now let's move to the do not's,
Do not automate every single step.
Although it will save a lot of time
to automate your entire customer service process.
Sometimes it takes a real human
to solve customer's problems.
If they want to get in touch with a real human,
make sure they have the option
at every single step of the way.
Do not be robotic and insincere.
People will know when they're talking to a robot
and that is completely fine in most situations.
But if, as part of your process,
there is a robot trying to be sincere and understanding
there's a risk of it sounding patronising.
Imagine a funeral home, having a robot say,
"We're very sorry for your loss." When you rang them.
It wouldn't be sincere.
And the customer would see straight through it.
The same thing with, "I bet that's frustrating,
I understand." coming from your chat bot.
You sit there thinking, "Do you actually understand robot?"
If you're going to set up automated services,
ensure they are properly sincere
and aren't trivialising people's issues at all.
It's a sort of approach that turns an upset customer
into an absolutely angry one.
Do not automate for the sake of it.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
We're all for automating where possible,
but if a lot of your relationships
are built on one-to-one conversations,
then keep the human contact present.
If it's an overwhelming point,
then it could be time to automate,
but people still need the human side of support.
So don't rule it out completely.
If it over complicates the process
for both you and the customer,
just scrap it completely, do not be annoying.
If it would be annoying, if a person did it,
don't make your automation do it.
The whole point of automation is to ensure the process
is quick, hassle-free and simple
for both you and the customer.
If it would be annoying to be transferred to multiple people
asking the same question over and over again,
chances are, it'd be annoying
if your chat bot did it as well.
So don't make the automation
send customers here, there, and everywhere.
Delivering world class customer service
is now expected of businesses.
So if there is a way to simplify and automate the process,
then we're on board.
When automating customer service,
if there is just one thing you take away
from these do's and don'ts,
let it be that the customer
should always be front of mind.
If automating makes it frustrating and hard
to get real answers, then find a solution
in your automation or speak to us for advice
on how to automate your processes.
If you found this video helpful,
then feel free to share it with someone
that you know that needs a hand
with automating their customer service.
You can also subscribe to our blog
where you'll find a bunch of tools, tips, templates,
to help you find sell, and keep your people
just like Neighbourhood does.
And that's it for me.
Happy servicing.
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