We are living in an era where customers are fully immersed in technology. With nearly everything within reach, customer expectations are rising, and they are no longer OK with services that are delayed and disconnected.
To ensure your customers are satisfied with their buying journey and engage with your brand in the long term, optimised customer service is crucial.

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What is customer service?

Whenever we hear the term "customer service," the image of a salesperson wearing a headset usually pops into our brains quickly. Although representatives play a crucial role in helping clients, customer service goes beyond just one department of an organisation.
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Customer service is the process of assisting customers from the moment they discover a product until long after they make a purchase. This assistance can be in the form of resolving general queries, guiding them on how to use products, or answering any technical questions, so that they can navigate your product seamlessly and efficiently.
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There are several ways these supports are typically delivered, including phone calls, emails, live chat, social media interactions, and in-person assistance.

Benefits of providing good customer service

We've been talking a lot about what customer service is, but one question that might pop up in your mind is: how does it really make a difference for your business? Well, let's explore the benefits below:

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Retain Customers

Customers are more likely to be satisfied with your services and return for future interactions when their complaints are promptly addressed. This is extremely beneficial for the sustainability of your business, as keeping existing customers is far more profitable than winning new ones.

‍To bring some numbers into play,
it costs five times more to acquire a new one than to retain existing ones. And it makes sense since you need to spend a lot of time and resources on advertising, promotions, and customer service to convert a potential lead into a customer.

Improve Brand Reputation

Studies show that when a customer is satisfied with the service they received for a potential problem, they are more likely to want to share their experience and promote it to others. 

By delivering quick, personalised interactions, you have the chance to establish credibility among your potential customers and improve brand value.

Boost Sales

With the overwhelming number of options available, it’s no surprise that customers are only paying attention to products that precisely meet their needs.

By getting to know your customers' preferences through service interactions and delivering exceptional support that is specifically designed for them, you gain their trust and loyalty, which in turn helps you generate more sales.

Gives a Competitive Advantage

Customers always have something to say. However, whether it's negative or positive, it always has the potential to help you grow. 

Understanding customer feedback and utilising it to identify issues they are currently facing helps you curate opportunities that better fit their needs and stand out from the crowd.

Challenges Faced by Businesses in Providing Good Customer Support

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Not being available 24/7

Customers can experience issues at any time of the day, and they don't want to wait around to solve their problems. 

When your business lacks the resources to offer 24/7 support, the resolution process becomes slow and can cause frustration, potentially leading customers to switch to brands that provide quick service.

Slower response time

One of the major issues businesses faces is the shortage of manpower to tackle the growing number of technical support tickets. This shortage not only leads to customers feeling ignored and neglected but also puts a strain on employee performance as they need to answer multiple inquiries at once.

Inconsistent service

Customers use different channels for different purposes. They might initiate contact via a chatbot but prefer to make the final purchase through email.

Inability to handle conversations consistently in different circumstances can result in customers becoming frustrated with your services as they have to repeat their issues and not receive timely support.

Limited expertise

A customer calls the service team to get a solution to their problem. But there are times when the service agent might not know how to solve the problem.

The cause of this can be businesses failing to train their support teams properly or having difficulty accessing detailed product information. This can result in frustration among customers and create a negative brand image. 

How does AI help in customer service?

Now that we have talked about some of the common problems businesses face in delivering excellent customer support, let us explore 5 ways in which integrating AI in customer service can be beneficial for your business:

1. Customers do not need to wait in queues

In today's business, one thing is certain: your customers face complex issues, and they want to fix those issues quickly. You can meet these expectations by integrating conversational AI into your customer support strategy.

To give you a clear picture, let's first talk about what conversational AI is. Basically, it’s a technology that stimulates human-like conversation. This includes chatbots, virtual agents, etc.

By taking advantage of the chatbot facilities, you can automate simple tasks. This ultimately offers three benefits:

• Customers do not have to wait for an agent, as they can self-help themselves.
• You can offer a human-like conversation, which helps you connect with customers on an emotional level.
• Your agents can focus on high-priority tasks.

2. Support across all channels

As mentioned above, customers have lots of options to choose from, and it's no different when it comes to interaction channels. With a whole lot of different communication channels available at their fingertips, customers want to interact with brands whenever and however they want. And, since customer satisfaction is becoming a reason for business success, putting customer comfort first becomes crucial.

Implementing an omni-channel support system helps your business offer an experience where no matter which channels customers use to contact your business, they will feel like they’re dealing with the same entity. Additionally, it reduces the hassle for agents, as they don't need to go back and forth between the platforms.

3. Valuable insight on customer needs through analytics

Given the heightened expectations from customers, showing your customers you care about their needs through personalisation can be a game changer for your business. According to a study, 91% of customers are more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations.

By integrating AI in customer service, you can collect vast amounts of customer data, including purchase history, behavioural data, demographic information, and so forth. This information can be later analysed to predict products that best meet their needs and recommend them in real-time.

4. Identifying customer emotions through responses

What a customer feels about your business holds great importance when it comes to driving your business to success.

With sentiment analysis, you can detect customer emotion from their survey responses, social media posts, or any other form of communication channel.

Monitoring your customer's experience consistently helps track emotions at key stages of their buying journey and deliver services that better meet their needs.

5. Multilingual support

Not one size fits all. And, when you are planning to expand business on a global scale, taking care of cultural and linguistic diversity becomes crucial.

By leveraging the power of conversational AI, you can provide customer service in multiple languages. When a customer sends a message, the conversational AI detects the customer's language and translates the responses in the system's default language. This way, agents can communicate seamlessly with customers and provide maximum support that boosts their satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

Providing efficient customer service is important for your brand's success. With technology advancing and customer preferences evolving rapidly, it has become more important than ever to scale your business digitally. Just by ensuring easy access, seamless support, and insightful analytics, you can make all the difference for your business.
If you would like to deliver good customer support and scale up your business effortlessly, sign up for a free trial of Mevrik.