Tag Archives: customer service tips

Top Challenges and Benefits of AI Chatbots

Infographic of challenges and benefits of AI chatbots.

Infographic of challenges and benefits of AI chatbots.

Chatbots have become a vital tool in modern-day business communication. They are critical for customer support and help improve the overall customer experience. Indeed, 61% of consumers say they prefer to communicate with brands via bots, citing speed and availability as the two main advantages of AI chatbots over human support.

Benefits

1. Available 24/7

Bots are available 24/7 and respond to queries quickly. Also, they don’t tire. Customers can ask bots as many questions as they wish without the bot feeling overwhelmed. It’s a quality that human support teams lack. Humans tend to get agitated when they feel the customer is asking too many questions.

2. Helps You Improve Customer Satisfaction

The advantages don’t end there. Timely and reliable customer service often means greater customer satisfaction – and that’s precisely what you can expect from chatbots. Customers leave feeling more satisfied with the experience, leading to repeat purchases and greater loyalty. The trickle-down benefits are endless.

Challenges

1. Chatbot Security

Unfortunately, bots also present marketers and brands with a few tough challenges. For instance, security remains a significant bottleneck, with phishing bots now a huge concern. Hackers have found an easy way to use bots to lure victims into filling out forms and submitting personal information, credit cards, bank account information.

Shane Baker takes a closer look at more of these benefits and challenges and offers viable solutions to help marketers make better use of AI chatbots. You can also check out all the costs and benefits in the infographic below.

 

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The State of Social Media Customer Support – Statistics and Trends

Social Media Customer Support – Statistics and Trends

Social Media Customer Support – Statistics and TrendsIf you’re not using social media as a customer support tool to connect with people already buying your products or those likely to buy in the future, you’re missing out big time.

With about 3.6 billion combined users, social media offers an excellent platform to meet your customers, engage them, answer their questions, and thank them for their loyalty. It’s also the perfect place to run a few loyalty programs.

If you’re still in doubt, INVESP has done extensive research on the role of social media in customer support today. The findings are eye-opening!

Social Media Engagement

The research shows that about 80% of consumers use social media to engage with brands. Of these people, 69% say they feel more confident in a brand they can directly message. Social media is arguably the best platform to message and perhaps chat with brands directly.

It’s not all about confidence, though. When the brand answers those direct messages, there’s a great chance of a repeat purchase. At least 91% of the respondents say that they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to become a repeat customer to a brand that answers their questions. Another 25% say they are likely to become the brand’s advocates.

Check out the rest of the research findings to learn how else you could benefit from offering customer support services via social media.

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Customer Service Myths

Customer-Service-Myths-700

Customer-Service-Myths-700In the current Internet-driven world, customers are more powerful than ever. When customers have a positive experience, they share it with their friends and family. This leads to new business. But what happens when customers don’t have a positive experience? They complain.

While customer complaints highlight a problem, listening to these problems can help a business owner to improve.

Understanding Customer Service Myths

Myth 1: Fewer Complaints Means Customers Are Enjoying Services

Fact: No news isn’t always good news. Fewer complaints may also mean a large number of silent unhappy clients. In fact, 70 to 90% of unsatisfied customers won’t voice their complaints before they leave a business.

Tip: Track and research complaints vigorously. When complaints go down, check whether accessibility has been reduced. Interact more with customers to determine the real number of problems and make improvements.

Myth 2: More Complaints Means Lower Profits

Fact: Few business owners are serious about this issue. Most of them want to determine the main problem to reduce the high number of complaint calls. However, a high number of calls may not always harm profits.

Tip: Business owners should view customer complaints as an opportunity to improve their products and services. They can only do this by listening to complaints and feedback.

For a business to achieve brand loyalty, it has to focus on the right customer service metrics. Check out this infographic from the folks at Salesforce to learn more customer service myths.

Customer-Service-Myths_01

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Choose the Right Customer Service App [Infographic]

Choose-the-Right-Customer-Service-App--315

Choose-the-Right-Customer-Service-App--315You know this to be true, no matter if you sell tools or tech. Customer service can make or break your business and can do it more quickly than ever before. How many of us have stories we’ve heard of bad customer service experiences that have gone viral, ruining or cementing a company’s reputation and perhaps future?

Customer Service

Customer service rules, and if you don’t have a culture that encourages good customer service and don’t make time to constantly analyze and improve your customer service, you’ll be in trouble. That means empowering not only the department that deals with customers every day but also every other department to make those critical customer interactions better, every time.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that you and your team won’t screw up from time to time. You will screw up. The difference between you and someone else is whether you screw up and then fix it, and how quickly you fix it.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

One tool that didn’t use to exist to help manage customer interactions is, of course, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. And now, too, there are CRM apps. These apps have really changed the nature of customer service, helping you to instantly deflate problems and answer questions. If you find the right one to use, you are also instituting another level in your customer service management department, helping inspire thankfulness and then in turn loyalty.

But choose the wrong app and you’re likely to be in a pickle, because it won’t work for you and it won’t work for your customers, either. And that can lead to even more problems. This app should fit into the overall structure of your customer service approach, working with a call center and digital solutions, among other items. So what does that look like? This graphic helps explain it.

Thanks, Salesforce for this informative infographic.

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9 Ways to Make Your Customers Happy

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9-Ways-to-Make-Your-Customers-Happy-315

When making a purchase, people want to get more than a product or service. They want experience and a great one at that. Thus, it’s important to focus on making your customers happy.

Remember, happy customers make loyal customers. Fortunately, there are practical ways to achieve customer satisfaction. Here are a few examples:

1) Deliver on your promises

When you say you’ll do something, then do it within the expected time frame. Unmet expectations lead to disappointment, and that’s not something you want customers to feel about your brand.

To avoid letting people down, stick to realistic commitments. There’s no point in luring people in with grandiose promises only to break them later on.

2) Hold yourself accountable

Behind brands are people, and people make mistakes. But it’s how you handle them that makes a world of difference. If you commit a mistake, own up to it and do your best to rectify it.

Doing the opposite — running away from the problem, acting defensively, or denying everything — will make customers less forgiving.

3) Involve your customers

Feedback from your customers is valuable, so ask for what they want to see more from your brand, when they expect these changes to take effect, and how else you can improve your customer service.

Once you’ve applied your suggestions, don’t forget to let your customers know right away.

Thanks to our friends at Headway Capital for this great infographic on ways to provide stellar customer service.

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