Customer service makes an invaluable tool for the growth of any business. Over the years, customer care service has evolved just as consumer behavior and practices have. Technology makes a profound effect on consumer buying habits. In the advent of more online shopping platforms, shopping experiences have become more efficient and convenient. The changes have also influenced customers’ expectations such that, they get edgy when a transaction takes too long.

What’s more, the wealth of alternatives allows customers to explore other options if the product or service doesn’t meet their requirements. Old customer care techniques barely accommodate the new way of conducting business. Gone are the days when companies used smiles or sociable traits to woo and impress clients. New customer care practices enable companies to take care of clients in new and exciting ways. Businesses that adapt to these challenges quickly can achieve new levels of consumer engagement. The discussion below deliberates on three ways technology can improve customer care service in a company.

1) Provide more Personalized Experience

Today, exceptional customer care service requires personalization. As more digital experiences compete for customer’s limited attention, only compelling forms of communication are likely to stand out. Getting potential customers to open an email or click a link requires marketers to provide relevant content that drives conversion. Each client has unique needs and marketers who meet them thoughtfully and intuitively make a better impression. Through technology, marketers collect customers’ contact data, monitor, and analyze useful buying and service behavior using a range of automation tools like Marketo and Hubspot. Marketers gather the data in one central location and organize the information into robust customer profiles used to provide tailored and personalized experiences. As such, clients receive only relevant and valuable information and communication. Systems such as customer relationship management software allow representatives to access useful information about customers every time they call. Customers don’t have to repeat basic information, providing time for a more personalized experience.

Amazon makes an excellent example of personalized customer care service experience. To begin with, it personalizes emails with the client’s contact name, making him feel special. It then analyzes the customer website behavior to customize the offer to the recipient’s needs. As such, customers receive emails they are interested in and avoid receiving generic offers.

2) Ensure Qualified Representatives Answer Calls

Today, customers appreciate services that provide value for their time. Increased platforms for clients to air their grievances allow them to review and comment on poor customer care service. As such, companies have categorized customer care departments to provide specialized services based on the client’s needs. This distributed calling system ensures the right person picks up when customers call, and the representative establishes the client’s needs before connecting with him. Additionally, the system’s predetermined criteria route the call to an agent qualified to address the problem. This way, the representatives show empathy when resolving the problem. Customers often get rattled by representatives when they don’t understand their problems. Empathy is vital to providing customer care, though most customers attest to dealing with agents who are uninterested. In most cases, the representatives are usually following the company’s policies. With advanced technological customer care service systems, companies get to encourage human interaction and focus on empathy. Messaging and other digital marketing tools allow representatives to provide caring outlets for clients.

What’s more, the distributed calling systems record the conversations for quality assurance purposes, creating an opportunity for new workers and a sense of accountability among the representatives. Customers tend to behave differently when they know the conversation is being recorded. They tend to be more personable and refrain from behavior that exhibits otherwise. Recorded calls provide practical examples for trainees, so they avoid mistakes that other employees made and offer exceptional customer care services.

3) Efficiency in Answering Calls and Messages

For most customers, five minutes of waiting for response feels like an eternity. Sadly customer care systems are often overloaded, hence difficult to reduce the waiting time. Through universal queuing, companies alleviate the problem by providing prompt responses. Note that, apart from answering calls, representatives are tasked with responding to email messages, chat tools, social media communication platforms, and more. The primary concern arises when a new channel is introduced in the customer care service. It becomes difficult for contact agents to handle the channels effectively without training for providing seamless services to customers.

To reduce the hiccups in communication channels and equip agents to serve customers, the concept of universal queuing comes in handy. It groups clients using all such methods to ensure that customer service is spread across these media platforms. As such, users on social media platforms get addressed using the same frequency as those on email, thus enjoying shorter waiting times. The main advantages that universal queuing provides customer center agents include:

• Centralized Interfaces

Call center agents go through multiple databases, software, and applications when interacting with clients. Each application has unique navigation pages and interface, which increases the chances of customer frustration as the representative switches between interfaces to gather useful information. Centralized interfaces allow agents to serve clients efficiently as the time taken to switch between them is reduced significantly. Customer satisfaction score also increases while agent training cost decreases.

• Speech Analytics Feature

It allows agents to analyze information from live and recorded conversations. The data is used to gather information for interpreting the needs of the clients and any ongoing trends. Additionally, companies can use this intelligence to design strategies that revamp traditional service programs and operations and boost their return on investments.

• Records of Activity History

It is important for customer care centers to maintain records of past data such that when customers call for the second time, they receive prompt responses. Through the unified platform, agents can track history of the call and provide better service, reducing chances of error.

• Live Graphical Representation

Universal queuing also provides agents with real-time operational statistics for interaction attributes and multiple campaigns. The illustrations allow managers and customer agents to track important call metrics to make informed business decisions. Managers also use the representations to design training strategies that enhance the performance of every customer care representative.