There are certain things that are bound to happen as the holiday season gets closer. An increase in stress levels amongst the service crew, for instance, is one of those things.
Holiday time is when your average customer is going to shop more than usual and that means keeping up with their service requests is going to be a major challenge. A good way of preparing for the holiday season is to leverage some of these effective tools.
Automation
Self-service is the standard option these days and though it can vary a lot, there are some things that never change. In other words, no matter what the need is, there are going to be certain requests that keep coming in repeatedly. Some of these common requests could include updating an address, requesting parts for replacement, changing the mode of payment, or submitting product reviews. By automating the solutions to these requests, you can make your customer service far more efficient and prioritize the more important things.
So, take the time to identify what some of the most common requests are and automate their respective solutions.
Offer omni-channel services
Not all customers want to be contacted through the same channels. They choose their channels based on a range of factors varying from location and time, to the complexity of their problem. So, don’t just stick to one channel. Offer as many as you can; be it email, telephone or chat.
However, do make sure that each channel has the right kind of support. For instance, make sure your chat line is just as staffed as the telephone line.
Also, try to prevent fragmentation. Some customers might end up using different channels at each stage of the resolution process – try to keep up. Focus on the problem. The last thing the customer wants is to repeatedly explain the problem.
Introduce chatbots into your customer service
Chatbots are an AI service that can have a conversation with you just like a real person. And since it makes use of AI and Machine Learning, the more ‘conversations’ the chatbot engages in, the more intelligent it becomes. Chatbots are being used extensively in customer service as they are a quick and reliable solution for common customer requests. Additionally, when needed, chatbots can send a request to customer support agents for the human touch. Read more about chatbots here.
Create a community
Creating communities is another effective customer service strategy. During the holidays, it can be extremely difficult to allocate manpower towards dealing with every request. Communities ease the stress by shifting a significant load of the work onto other customers who are more than willing to help a friend in need!
However, do make sure you monitor the community to see if the right kind of knowledge is being shared and whether all problems are being resolved.
From Automation to creating Communities, these are just some things you can do to have the perfect recipe for successful customer service this holiday season.
—
Relationships with customers can be complex, but the tools to manage them shouldn’t be. If you are still looking for a customer experience platform that can help you manage your customer service, this holiday season, contact us today – we can help!
