In today’s digital world, people have turned to online solutions for previously offline activities, be it is groceries delivery, workout class, or attending work-related meetings. They have evolved to a new standard of immediacy for both online and online-to-offline interactions and expect endless options for engaging with their favorite brands. People not only want to engage with brands over their preferred channels but expect quick, helpful answers on those channels with consistent, personalized interactions.
Organizations adapting and evolving along with these social and technological changes can leave an indelible, positive impression on their customers that facilitates loyalty, cultivates trust, and ultimately drives sales. No doubt, businesses across industries are engaging with clients across different platforms, social media, and messaging apps through live agents and chatbots as part of a single unified customer journey. This omnichannel approach is not limited to streamlining customer experience but helps maximize revenue and reduce costs.
Also, customers, these days want to help themselves and find answers to their questions independently whenever possible. According to Gartner, around 70 percent of customers prefer solving their issues independently or obtaining the information they need using self-service channels. In essence, companies need to provide self-service options to encourage customers to find answers to their own questions. This will also help cultivate happier and more loyal customers while reducing the costs of their customer care operations.
Businesses that have started focusing on enhancing their self-service capabilities will be ahead of the competition in the future as they will be resolving half of the customer queries through self-service channels like SEO-optimized knowledge base, community sites, chatbots, and voicebots. Moreover, organizations are increasingly adopting AI to augment agent performance, automate quality management, and deliver more proactive care. These technological developments and adoption will enable contact center agents to expand their roles to include both serving and selling, blurring the lines between sales, marketing, and customer service.
With the right technology implementation across the entire organization, contact center teams can keep their customers at the center of their processes and create a seamless, unified brand experience.
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