From cold telemarketing calls to warming relationships and customer retention - the transformations in the service industry. (Photo: Pexels.com)
In today's volatile economy, many companies are looking for ways to streamline their spending and do more with less.
This is difficult, especially in customer service centers, where a lack of data and personnel and disconnected systems lead to long waiting times and high expenses for a company.
Adopting innovative technologies and changing attitude may increase customer satisfaction and make the service center profitable.
1. Reduce call handling time with appropriate tools for service personnel
The cost of operating a customer service center can reach NIS 20 for a 3-4 minute conversation with a customer. Reducing the duration of the call and solving the customer's problem in one call will help reduce costs and increase profits. Solutions that will provide a
360 view of the customer, including order history and other relevant details About the customer are necessary so that representatives have all the data they need to understand each customer's unique experience or problem. In addition, tools for working together between the different departments in the company can also prevent friction and help reduce handling times. For example, one of the main reasons
people Calling customer service is checking the status of their order. With innovative self-service and order management tools, you can reduce these calls and thus significantly save time and money.
Comprehensive and interconnected systems give service representatives a comprehensive view of order and inventory data, and give them better tools to quickly handle customer requests.
In fact, a Salesforce report revealed that the right order management tools can reduce customer service call times by 25%.
2. Implement self-service tools to save time and money
Jan Assolin. (Photo: Salesforce)
Various technologies, including chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) engines, can handle simple questions, requests and transactions, so that service representatives can prioritize other matters of higher importance.
The technology also frees up time for service representatives to help new customers define the products, offer them additional products, help with complex requests and more.
The result: higher average order value, greater customer satisfaction, and lower call volume - leading to more service center revenue.
Moreover, data shows that last November, during the week between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the use of chatbots worldwide increased by 57% year over year.
Also, studies show that 88% of the service centers in the world that use automation technology reported benefits such as reducing errors, more time to help customers and more time to free up new projects.
Companies can also implement digital information centers so customers can quickly find answers to common questions without calling a representative.
Also, online communities where customers offer each other advice and discuss products is another way to reduce conversation volume, while maintaining brand loyalty.
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3. Focus on the post-purchase experience
In many cases, acquiring new customers is a significant expense for business owners.
Service centers can "squeeze the lemon" to the end and use every customer call as an opportunity to retain and encourage loyalty.
This is especially important during conversations after the customer has already purchased a product.
Common post-purchase transactions include exchanges, returns, changes, and even asking for discounts.
These types of conversations can be very sensitive and tip the scales one way or the other when it comes to customer retention.
In order to ensure that any such conversation is effective, make sure that each customer feels heard.
The service center is an important part of the company's feedback process, and it is critical to give service representatives the right resources to point out any product quality issues.
Return reporting tools can help a company track patterns over time, allowing production issues to be fixed quickly, ensuring customer satisfaction, and preventing product returns.
Your sales and customer service teams share the same goal: to deliver exceptional experiences to every customer, at every touch point.
The key is to give your teams the right resources to make every part of the customer journey feel seamless.
This will not only improve the customer experience, but also reduce costs and turn the service center into a profit unit.
Jan Assolin is a Sales Specialist at Salesforce
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