Well-Trained Customer Service Employees Do What AI Can’t

Customer satisfaction is in decline. Two things that seem to be at odds are the keys to increasing satisfaction and locking down customer loyalty: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and well-trained customer service employees. AI delivers the streamlined experience and customer service employees step in when there’s trouble.

Brands that have combined the two well are improving the experience throughout the entire customer journey, building brand loyalty, increasing retention rates, and ultimately helping grow an organization’s bottom line.

As consumers, we all know that a million aggravations can happen with even the simplest of transactions, no matter if it’s online or at a brick-and-mortar store or restaurant. One bad experience can destroy the goodwill built over the 20 previous interactions which were all perfect. Therefore, customer service must be “on” every time.

Having great customer service is, of course, not just an image thing, it’s critical to the bottom line. According to an American Express Customer Service Barometer study, seven out of 10 customers spent more money with companies that provide exceptional customer service. And your current customers are often your most valuable. Research by Adobe found that a repeat customer generated three to seven times more revenue per visit than new customers.
 

Investing in automation and your employees who interact with customers

AI is a growing part of creating a good customer experience because it can process huge amounts of data quickly. It understands our preferences, streamlines our purchases, enables us to get answers, check order status, make payments, and much more – 24 hours a day. Many customers actually prefer the speed and ease of ordering, asking questions and finding the information they’re looking for without ever interacting with a human.

But customers still value human interaction – particularly when there’s a problem. They want well-trained representatives who can provide answers, compassion, and understanding at the speed of AI. This means your employees are getting the most difficult customers – the ones automation can’t help.

And that job is getting harder because customers are getting louder. The National Customer Rage Survey, which tracks satisfaction and incivility, shows that 43% of customers yelled or raised their voice to express displeasure about their most serious problem, up from 35% in 2015.

Customers are also getting less patient. (Or maybe wait times are getting longer?) As little as seven years ago, studies showed that 60 percent of consumers believed one minute was too long to be on hold, and 33 percent believed customer service should pick up the call immediately with no hold time. Today, Studyfinds reports that the average person is on hold with customer service for 42 minutes.
 

Learn tactics for Dealing With Today’s Difficult Customers, when you register for this live, online seminar today.
 

Customer service training goes beyond technical expertise

Customer service is the backbone of a successful organization. Keeping the customers an organization already has is critical to revenue growth. By training frontline workers and customer service professionals, you prepare them to handle even the rudest customers. Beyond just helping customers with your products and technology, a well-trained rep can ensure that your unhappy customers are greeted by a friendly, calm, problem-solver who is empowered, listens well and shows empathy.

Employees who can skillfully handle complicated problems and emotional customers are invaluable to your customers’ experience, satisfaction, loyalty and positive word of mouth on social media. Three  key steps will elevate the role of customer care employees, thus improving customer service: Getting the right people in the door to begin with, creating more formal opportunities for learning and development, and creating and making visible the career pathways for individuals in these roles.

The role of customer service employees is evolving and becoming more complex and challenging. Customers like self-service, but need human interaction when they can’t solve the problem on their own. Reskilling workers for this critical role translates into greater customer loyalty and higher profits.