It’s not a secret that customers are essential for the existence, sustenance, and growth of any business. Then, as a business owner, how do you make sure that your clients enjoy the best customer experience, or simply CX? How do you keep your customers satisfied? How do you pace up with customer needs and recent contact center trends?
Interactions with customers via call centers have become more sensitive than in the past and expectations are gaining new heights by the day.
Customers want exceptional relations with your company beyond good pricing and product quality. They are expecting a rewarding experience from personalized and consistent interactions with your firm.
Gaining Control of Customer Engagements
What if every customer could deal with your single most effective sales or service person?
Customer experience should be paid a lot of attention and effort. It must be at its best all the time. The profit from an excellent customer experience is of great value that has been declining in a lot of companies and corporations.
Devoted customers will pay 50% to 200% more to stay with your brand. Inspiring and maintaining such loyalty requires your organization to master the discipline of customer experience (CX), which necessitates a shift from the “quick fix” mentality to a continuous transformational effort.
Customers are increasing the demand for better services. Companies have a need for new enhanced methods in call centers other than the usual experience of the past. These have been the main reasons and push for technology innovation in order to a better customer experience in call centers.
In this article, we are taking a look at the recent contact center trends salvaging the decline of customer experience.
1. Analytics Empowered with AI & ML
AI and Machine learning are finding a way into everything we do and how we do it. Their application is also easing and making the customer experience at call centers more exciting.
The use of AI call analytics and real-time speech-to-text transcription solutions can be a good example of improving contact center efficiency.
Effective and intelligent data analysis is needed for practical reporting and measuring customer satisfaction through call centers.
Data is king in today’s world of business. The integration of analytic tools with communication systems such as CRM is priceless.
AI and Machine learning can also enhance flagging characteristics for actions in calls, messages, and other communication types, real-time and post-call.
Data harvested through feedback from customers, surveys, calls-resolved and emails can be used for quality assurance. Special analytic software can be deployed to understand customer behavior, identify or predict problems. They can also help to fine-tune the work process and derive more competent business methods.
Such integrated solutions mentioned above can facilitate sales performance, compliance, and better customer experience. Business growth will be data-driven as there will be analytics to measure call agent performance.
2. Feature-Rich Chatbots
It might seem that chatbots have become something outdated and lose their grip compared to other tech tools. However, the impact they have on businesses is impressive. According to Intercom:
Companies who use chatbots are 60% more likely to report a definite improvement in resolution times and 30% more likely to report a definite improvement in customer satisfaction.
Thus, chatbots keep remaining their position as one of the call center technology trends. A well-designed chatbot helps streamline customer services by answering questions or even assisting a purchasing proces
Commonly, to address customer needs, chatbots should be implemented with the following features
- Customer routing
- Sentiment analysis
- Co-browsing
- Personalized suppor
- Sessions analytics
- CRM integration
3. Omnichannel Communications and UCC
For companies to stay ahead, they must be able to transform their business environment timely to stay relevant. Customers should enjoy proactive services, hence business owners must provide the most effective communication channels with full customer data and context.
The use of unified omnichannel tools gives the room for possible communication with a customer at different channels simultaneously. Information can be sent to a customer from one channel, while valuable insights with feedback response can be received at another channel. This gives the advantage of convenience and speed.
Unified communications and collaboration tools such as team collaboration applications will be an ace for contact centers. Team members of a workplace will be able to have common leverage on collective business intelligence and information.
The use of CRM can be more valuable if integrated with omnichannel communications or UCC tools. Such CRM integration will engage customer interactions with personality and empathy, which are essential for new era customers who expect convenience, speed, and consistency.
4. Moving to the Cloud
Cloud communications is a standard for most growing service providers including call centers. It covers effective communications for partners in business, employees, and customers. With cloud communications, you provide your team with a single platform for voice and video calls, SMS, instant messaging, etc.
Some advantages of cloud communications are as follows:
- Provide your team with effective communication tools and enhance mobility
- Save space as on-site infrastructure is minimal for cloud communications
- Have an effective and predictable cost
- Enable integration with other cloud services
- Regularly updated with new features and functionality
- Easy scalable with an open option for managing resources, network capacity, and features
Hiring remote professionals and supporting virtual offices is a new trend today followed by many organizations. Considering the advantages stated above, remote workspaces and workforce are implementable with easy maintenance. The use of cloud-based platforms and project management tools are effective facilitators for this.
Migration to the cloud is a sensitive process, and thus it is better to engage the service of a vendor that specializes in providing cloud solutions, their implementation, and customization. It is advisable to make the transition process to the cloud in phases and at your own pace.
Take a look at a success story: Cloud Phone System Integration with Salesforce
Working with the right vendor will allow you to carefully plan the activities and run the transition process smoothly. They will also consider all your business requirements in order to adjust configuration and processes to fit your needs.
5. Implementation of Recall Technology
Human errors while sending written messages are unavoidable even at call centers. The transition time of interaction when sending a message is essential, but additional seconds to this time for correction is not a loss. The use of a delay-recall mechanism can save contact centers lots of trouble with writing and sending messages online.
On Second Thoughts (OST) or Recall Technology can allow aborting messages, resolving errors or any form of miss information. Besides correcting errors, saving time and money, it does not interrupt the customer service experience.
Call center agents can be of the advantage by being able to undo or edit written messages in real time and still maintain conversational flow. It is convenient and enhances the customer experience at the same time.
6. Embracing Conversation Intelligence
It sounds hackneyed, but knowledge is power. Thus, companies that leverage it can gain a solid competitive advantage. This is especially relevant for contact centers, where customer service often depends on information accuracy and how quickly it’s provided.
Knowledge management implemented as part of a contact center solution is designed to create, store, and organize data. It helps agents have quick access to consistent and accurate information to address customer needs or promote services.
Being one of the call center recent innovations, conversation intelligence empowers knowledge management to a greater extent. It helps agents access meaningful insights and prompts right on the call or even benefit from dynamic call scripts.
As a result, this technology trend adoption helps contact centers engage customers and guide them across their journey, handle objections, and save time on agent coaching.
7. Advanced Service Methods
The use of self-service tools makes solving some issues to be fast, and it reduces the workload at call centers. It enables the client to have the “you can do it all by yourself feeling”.
Some customers prefer to go for self-service other than contacting or consulting a call support agent. The use of FAQ, virtual agents and videos can make customers be able to solve problems faster with less dependence on center agents.
Implementation of a resource library for customers is another enhancement for a better customer experience. It provides round the clock services and complements the live agents making CX more comprehensive and convenient.
Gaining Control of Customer Engagements
What if every customer could deal with your single most effective sales or service person?
The Way to Superior CX
The needs for today’s business operations can be complex and make the work of call agents to be cumbersome. Call agents should have all the appropriate enhancement and support to deliver in a single interaction.
Services and their corresponding technologies will always evolve together with client demands. Well-customized, agile, and nimble technological tools will create flexibility, and help businesses to adapt to the rising challenges.
Business owners must pay attention to their methods of operation in order to provide the best service and customer experience via a call center.
There must be a focus on tools that support a business other than trying to adjust to recent trends. In this case, you need thorough research of available tools or a consultation with your software development partner to design a solution custom-tailored for your needs.
Velvetech is serving clients with call center automation and integration projects to help them extend and enhance their capabilities. Our solutions include an award-winning AI platform that resulted in a 52% lift in customer conversion rates.
Velvetech is continually growing its expertise and will be happy to discover your challenges and provide the right solution for your Call Center. Contact us today for a consultation.
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