Are you looking for a way to take your customer service operations to the next level? Automating your customer support is the perfect solution! You can free up valuable time, reduce expenses, and provide customers with more efficient service through intelligent automation. But how do you get started implementing customer support automation?
Let’s start with the basics:
What is customer support automation?
Customer support automation is a revolutionary way to provide customer service, using AI-driven chatbots instead of humans. This method of automated customer service helps customers find immediate answers, status updates, or necessary resources.
Support teams are overwhelmed by questions, repetitive tasks, and clunky systems. Support automation simplifies this by connecting an organization’s tech stack and automating the mundane processes, so teams can focus on tasks that require higher-level thinking and expertise. With API integrations, support automation connects an organization’s knowledge base, cloud drive, workflows, helpdesk, and mission-critical apps. This significantly reduces data silos and makes information easily and instantly accessible.
In a nutshell, Capacity is an AI-powered customer support automation platform that connects your entire tech stack to answer questions, automate repetitive support tasks, and build solutions to any business challenge.
Keep reading to discover how to support automation can drastically improve the customer experience, plus much more.
The importance of customer support automation
Customer support automation helps to streamline customer service processes, improve customer satisfaction, and increase customer loyalty. McKinsey reports that improving customer experiences can increase sales by 2 to 7% and profitability by 1 to 2%.
Support teams can quickly handle tasks and improve customer satisfaction by taking advantage of support automation tools. Most questions and queries can be delegated to AI-powered chatbots, leaving human agents to deal with complex issues requiring more strategic thinking.
The 21st-century customer expects to get immediate support across various channels. One-third of consumers say they would consider switching companies after just one instance of subpar customer service. Because of this staggering statistic, companies are turning to customer support automation to streamline business processes and increase customer retention.
Rising customer support automation trends
While support automation may have been optional in the past, it’s becoming an integral part of business operations today. The importance of providing timely support to both customers and employees is overwhelming.
Here’s a look at a few upcoming trends in customer service automation technology:
- Customers expect a quick reaction from support specialists. Lack of timely or quality support is the rationale behind switching brands.
- With proactive customer support, staying ahead of the competition can be possible. Improving CX is a high priority for over 80% of business leaders this year.
- Personalization is the driving force behind profitability. AI-powered support tools can offer a personalized approach to each customer without human assistance.
- With support automation, employees can focus on complex activities without wasting time on manual tasks. AI-powered support tools can ensure customer satisfaction without the employees’ involvement.
The top 10 must-know customer support automation tips
Whether you are new to the support automation game or an experienced expert, here are some tips when implementing automation technology:
Tip 1: Embrace AI-powered chatbots
Chatbots are transforming how institutions and businesses deliver customer service by responding instantly to inquiries. These programs allow customers to find quick resolutions to various issues without extended wait times.
AI-powered chatbots learn from experience. They identify the most common questions, analyze customer interactions, and ensure a smooth support process for all parties involved. Besides the benefit of providing immediate support and making it easier for employees to do their job, chatbots are available 24/7/365. This streamlines the customer experience, allowing them to enjoy a personal pace.
Tip 2: Determine the most tedious tasks in your business
It is crucial to identify the tasks that are taking up your employees’ time and look into what can be automated. Automating customer support or data entry tasks will free up time for team members to focus on relationship-building activities.
Consider these questions when thinking about which tasks to automate:
- What tasks take the most time to complete?
- Which processes have the most roadblocks?
- If the team was not spending time on _______, what could they be working on instead?
Tip 3: Analyze workflows to find spots for improvement
Automating different elements of a company’s processes can tremendously improve customer support. You can digitize your support process by giving all team members access to specific aspects of the workflow anywhere and anytime.
With well-designed workflows, you can answer various questions before they even arise. It allows customers to get support quickly since support teams are fully equipped to process queries.
Tip 4: Build solutions with integrations to your most used apps
Integrating customer service automation technology with existing applications can simplify and streamline processes. Integrations allow businesses to automate repetitive tasks, eliminate manual inputs, and reduce the time spent troubleshooting customer inquiries. Companies should strive for an integrated model that links all their applications to ensure a seamless customer experience. This will help to ensure customer satisfaction by reducing errors and providing consistent service across all channels.
Some of the most common app integrations include:
- CRM systems
- Messenger channels, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams
- Proprietary software
- Email and calendar systems
- Productivity tools
- LMS systems
Tip 5: Utilize intelligent helpdesk tech
Intelligent helpdesk technology can improve customer service and reduce costs by automating manual tasks such as ticketing, routing, and resolving inquiries. Additionally, intelligent helpdesks use natural language processing (NLP) to detect customer emotions and tailor their responses accordingly, creating a more personalized experience. This technology can help businesses increase customer satisfaction by decreasing resolution times and providing accurate information within seconds.
A modern helpdesk solution offers a plethora of advantages to businesses wanting to automate customer support. It will efficiently route inquiries to the right team or individual and provide instantaneous notifications that keep track of ticket progress and decrease overall ticket volumes.
Tip 6: Create a robust knowledge base
Creating a knowledge base is essential for customer support automation. A robust knowledge base helps customers find the answers they need quickly and efficiently while reducing the number of customer inquiries that agents must handle manually. With a well-designed knowledge base, customer service teams can spend less time searching for information and more time engaging with customers.
To create a thriving knowledge base, start by ensuring all your customer support information is centralized in one place. This can include FAQs and other helpful content, such as videos and tutorials. Spend some time updating the content, so customers receive the most accurate information.
Tip 7: Find a low-code platform
Finding a low-code customer support automation platform is the perfect way to automate customer support quickly and effectively. Low-code platforms make it easy for businesses of any size to build custom applications without the need for programming skills. These platforms come with drag-and-drop design tools that enable you to create powerful, automated customer experiences with minimal effort.
Additionally, they often integrate with third-party solutions to simplify the process further. With a low-code platform, you can customize your customer service automation solution to meet the specific needs of your business and provide customers with an outstanding support experience.
Tip 8: Train team members with the proper resources
Training employees on customer support automation is essential for creating a successful customer experience. Start by providing them with the necessary resources and knowledge to understand how automation works. This includes documents explaining how to use automated systems, detailed tutorials, and recordings of webinars or demos showing each system’s capabilities.
In addition, involve team members in designing your customer service automation solution and give them a chance to contribute ideas and feedback. Doing so will ensure everyone is on board with the changes and that the automated system is tailored to their needs.
Tip 9: Monitor customer feedback and take action
Listening to customers’ opinions and suggestions helps companies identify areas for improvement and adjust their automated workflows accordingly. Businesses should actively collect customer feedback through surveys, questionnaires, online reviews, and other methods.
Once the feedback has been collected, companies should develop a plan of action. This could include updating information in the knowledge base, providing additional resources to customers, or improving customer support processes. Listening to customers and responding to their concerns can help businesses create an outstanding customer experience.
Tip 10: Have a strategy for scaling up customer support
As businesses grow, customer service teams may need help manually managing the growing volume of inquiries. Companies should plan and create a strategy for scaling up their customer support operations through automation, ensuring success in the long run. This includes setting clear goals, establishing performance metrics, and investing in customer service automation tools and technology.
Automating specific processes, such as account management and order tracking, can help businesses keep up with their customers’ demands without sacrificing the quality of service. A plan will also ensure a seamless and successful transition to automated customer support.
The big takeaway
Depending on the company’s size, employees may have to deal with thousands of daily queries. Customer support automation can help customers answer their questions exactly when and where they need it.
Capacity’s low-code platform, accessible through conversational AI, enables graceful human handoffs and intuitive task management via a powerful workflow automation suite, robust developer platform, and flexible database that companies can deploy anywhere.
Capacity is an industry leader in support automation for both customers and employees. From AI-powered chatbots to advanced helpdesks, you can improve your company’s profitability while streamlining customer and employee experience.Â
The Guide to Support Automation
Discover:
- The different types of AIÂ
- A framework for applying support automation
- Tips for choosing solutions
