There’s nothing like a chatbot that can’t answer your questions or listening to endless on-hold music to wait for a customer service representative. These scenarios, however, are reflective of today’s customer service environment.
Companies face a labor shortage that isn’t going away any time soon. “Companies are trying to hire people that either don’t want to join the workforce, or don’t want that particular job,” says Kathy Sobus, ConvergeOne’s senior director of collaboration go-to-market strategy. “But customers still need service.”
And without people and a plan, companies will burn out the employees that are left, and end up with unhappy customers.
The solution? Self-service tools that intuitively answer customer questions without need for human interaction, whether it’s automated chat-bots or interactive voice response systems that check balances, file claims, provide information, set appointments, or enable payments. Many companies buy a solution thinking it will solve this problem, but most of the time it isn’t integrated to other systems or touch points along a customer’s journey. As many as 70% of people would like a company’s website to provide a self-service application, and 40% of customers prefer self-service over actually talking to a human. But more than half of people say self-serve tools are often difficult to use.
Creating intuitive tools that truly save time and solve problems takes more than a half-baked piece of software.
Read Kathy's thought leadership article to learn 10 ways to improve your self-service, relieve some of the burden for employees, and satisfy customers.