Customer Experience and Why It Matters for Business
The concept of Customer Experience itself is very broad. In this article, we focus on the customer service context and its automation.
With rapid software development, constant Internet upgrades, an abundance of mobile technology on the market, an increase in the number of users, the development of the application market, we can observe a leap in online commerce. The competition is growing every day, but so is the number of customers. How to not get lost with your small business in this jungle of technological progress?
Any business owner who has been in the market for at least some time can say that customer service and customer experience are some of the business advantages. One must keep on working to improve it.
Customer experience can have a significant impact on sales especially in online commerce where the competition is high and is growing every day.
There is a reality of the customer experience, people already know how to shop, what they like and don’t like about the process. If you want your customers to keep coming back again and again, and even bring other customers to you, you should consider automating your work processes in order to improve customer satisfaction.
Why Business Needs Automation
Why do you need process automation? Business process automation is required when a business has established repetitive processes and tasks that can be entrusted to technology.
Businesses cannot afford to depend on the human factor. There are still a lot of inconsistent processes in customer service that lead to hitches, miscommunications, and eventually potential customer failure.
Automation allows you to increase your revenue. If you invest 100% of yourself in a business, you are giving it your full time. When you have automated processes, they can run around the clock, thereby making time for you to fulfill other more important tasks.
Automated processes can work without you or your managers being involved.
Automation reduces costs. The business owner pays a one-time fee for setting up automated processes or uses available free software apps. That eliminates funding for hiring a workforce. With 24/7 access, customers can interact with you whenever it’s convenient for them.
Automation reduces the risk of human error. It’s no secret that finding a quality employee takes a long time, and the salary of such a quality employee will be high. If the business owner has decided to hire an inexperienced employee, it will take a lot of time and effort to train him or her. In addition to inexperience, there is also the factor of simple human mistakes due to lack of attention or fatigue. An automated process will be convenient for the customer and will not affect their decision in any way.
Automation of such processes as traffic, payments, processing incoming applications, creating a database of potential clients may well contribute to the growth of passive income.
Best Software Tools for Customer Experience Automation
If a business owner has decided to implement automation in business operations, there’s no way to do it without following:
Top CRM software
The obvious leader among the web development for automating customer service is the CRM solution. Despite the tremendous benefits this software brings, today there are both paid and free options. Many free options offer unlimited uses and approximately 1 mln contacts. Among the main features offered for your business, there is the ability to manage data and contacts, set up leads, customize the sales process, communication, mailings, and advertising campaigns. The tool also interacts with multiple platforms, such as Microsoft Office. If you want to expand your capabilities, there’s an option to purchase an extended service package. Some of the best examples of CRM software development are HubSpot, Omnisend, Kissflow, etc.
Virtual Agents
One of the elements that contribute to a positive customer experience is a quick response to requests. Often these requests are irrelevant of time of day or week and can be received at night or on weekends, not to mention vacations. To avoid paying exorbitant salaries for around-the-clock work, business owners need to invest only a little in setting up a virtual agent. This assistant is available at any time of the day or year to answer all of your client’s inquiries.
Video Content
Video content isn’t just introduced on YouTube or social media. In addition to using video content in advertising, there’s a niche where video can be a big plus to the customer service aka experience. Imagine how you can improve the customer journey by giving all the information needed in a short video right on the platform of your business. Your customer won’t have to spend time Googling and YouTubing in order to find out the information that interests them. One also won’t have to wait for a response from a service manager or chatbot.
A short video presentation or an operation manual will definitely work to improve the customer experience.
Email Workflows
The importance of emails should not be forgotten. However, we’re not talking about spam, we’re talking about email support for the clients when they make any interaction with your site. You can set up an automated cause-and-effect newsletter that will help the customer in their experience but won’t annoy them by being obtrusive and irrelevant.
Conclusions
How can you create a customer experience that exceeds all expectations? Look around and see the examples.
What made Jeff Bezos, the creator of Amazon, the richest man in the world? His business was built on a customer-centric model. He offered the best customer service at the time and he did not go wrong.
Based on the experience of successful companies, we can conclude that to succeed in business, you have to make your customers happy.
