5 Digital Trends in Customer Service That Are Not Going Away

Written by KOVA Corp

Enterprises looking to beef up the customer service experience they provide have a wealth of contact center solutions to consider. New innovations seem to be cropping up everyday, many which embrace the digital technology currently available to keep customers – and employees – smiling. In order for any customer service initiative to be successful, it needs to offer value – that could involve anything from resolving a problem quickly, making a purchase easier or injecting a little bit of fun into the experience.

Customers are embracing digital technology faster than it can hit the shelves. Enterprises will need to incorporate tools to effectively communicate with customers on these platforms if they want to be successful. How can your enterprise use digital to its best advantage? Keep up with these trends in digital if you want to stay on top.

Mobile. A February 2013 report published by Cisco looked at mobile usage in 2012. They noted that average smartphone usage grew by 81 percent, representing 18 percent of global handsets in use, but 92 percent of total global handset traffic. In addition, the number of mobile-connected tablets grew 2.5-fold, to 36 million and generated 2.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone.  This technology allows consumers to connect with you no matter where they are and at any time of day. Creating a unique and user-friendly mobile experience is key. Simply duplicating your standard website experience to mobile devices doesn’t work. Start optimizing your customer experience for mobile now.

Video. There are a number of ways enterprises can use video to enhance the customer experience. Not only can they entertain, videos can also be great tools to educate customers about your business, products and services and help customers answer questions on their own. Effective use of video education and tutorials can help reduce the number of calls coming into your call center.

Live Chat. Visit websites such as Best Buy, Sears or QVC if you want to have a chat about products you want to learn more about. They can answer questions about the product and even arrange for the purchase. They make it easy to buy – that’s great value for the customer, which means more sales.

Social Media. If you have ignored social media as a customer service channel, you should think again. Consumers want answers fast and social media is one of the first places they go to complain (or sing their praises). If you aren’t proactive about addressing these complaints, you could be in for a PR nightmare. Demonstrating that you take your customers concerns seriously and are able to resolve problems via social media can work in your favor. Since you can often resolve issues quickly through this channel, it also gives you another opportunity to reduce pressure on the call center.

Customer Analytics. For most enterprises, customer data can be spread across many different departments that don’t share information with one another. As the amount of data grows, it becomes more difficult to handle, and information that could be used to more efficiently serve the customer is not being utilized. Customer service organizations can improve operations, enhance service and increase sales when data for all points starts working together.  Bringing all data into one central location is one step. Utilizing technology, such as Verint®’s Voice of the Customer Analytics solutions can help your business better understand and serve your customers in the future.

Kova Corporation offers Verint® workforce management systems for contact center applications. Visit the contact center page on our website to learn more.

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