By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Blogger, Lava Protocols
Customers want a seamless experience — anytime, anywhere, across any channel. In fact, 82% of customers expect to solve complex problems by talking to one person, according to Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer report. I cannot stretch the importance of customer satisfaction and happy customers. In simple words, happy customers are more likely to come back to you for services and are more likely to refer your products to their friends. Eighty-four percent of businesses say that the pandemic has changed their customer service workflows and processes, according to Salesforce’s State of Service report. Many organizations suffer and annoy their customers due to inefficient service processes. State of the Connected Customer report by Salesforce consists of insights from 15,000+ global consumers and business buyers on a new era of customer engagement. You do not even have to read the report, I will tell you what customers around the world want; they just want to be happy!
Therefore, you need to know why and how automation of your customer services is the secret for happy and satisfied customers. Customer service automation offers a way for leaders to streamline and simplify customer service processes. It can improve processes that span multiple people, systems, and departments, and remove bottlenecks between the front, middle, and back office. If you are tired of multi-user, multi-step customer service workflows, you need to integrate automation for less friction for you and your customers.
The goal is to make your customers happy, and you believe me that customer service automation is the way to go. However, it can be quite daunting to make this big change spontaneously. Therefore, I have put together 5 important questions for you to ask yourself before you start your customer service automation process.
- What are your goals?
The first step is getting clear on what you want automation to achieve. Are customer experience and customer satisfaction (CSAT) a top priority? Is the business focused on cutting costs? Where do goals for growth and revenue come in? Different KPIs carry different weights. You always need to align your service organization’s goals with business goals. And return to these goals to measure the success of your effort.
- What steps are involved in the service process?
Next, pick the top three to five service processes creating bottlenecks. These tend to repeat often, involve multiple people, and take up time with simple clicks. Rank them as potential candidates to automate. The more steps involved, the more opportunity for errors, bottlenecks, and delays. Processes that frustrate your teams and customers are prime candidates for automation.
- How long does the customer service process take?
Once you have assessed complexity, turn your attention to time. How much time, on average, does the process take to complete from beginning to end? How much time does each step take? Are there specific steps prone to delays and bottlenecks?
- How much are your inefficient processes costing you?
Quantify the costs of your most inefficient processes. Consider the hard costs like losing money on Service Level Agreements (SLAs), canceled subscriptions, or product returns.
Some costs may not be as easy to quantify, but damaging nonetheless. Factor in problems with agent burnout, retention, and churn, and a missed opportunity to focus on higher priority tasks. And of course, reduced customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Where can customer service automation deliver the most value right now?
You have identified the most problematic workflows and quantified the costs of not automating. Align your top automation opportunities with key business priorities. This is where automation can deliver the most immediate value.
Automating customer service processes can help make your business operation more productive and engaged. However, it is important to take some time to plan your automation journey. With the right roadmap, you can have more control and better support your team. And you can engage customers, and build a more modern, responsive service operation. Also, always remember, happy customers, are good for you and your business! If you are still confused and need more information get in touch with Salesforce and Lava Protocols for more help.
Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Partner. Want to level up your CRM and customer experience? Drop us an email to schedule your demo: hello@lavaprotocols.com.