Everyone knows the situation. You’ve got a question about a product, and you want a quick answer. It can be over the telephone, via email, in an app, online in a chat, or at the store in person. Customers want service right away, anytime and anywhere, on the channel they prefer. Digitization has transformed customer expectations. Customer service is in a position to meet these expectations — by taking small steps and making manageable investments.
Conventional telephone and email support channels frequently result in long waits for customers and high costs for businesses. That’s why companies are now finding that digitization and customer service automation is inescapable. And service is often a crucial differentiator for businesses that frequently also represents a potential additional source of revenue. Many businesses offer both automated and personalized service, the later with experts at the ready to answer questions on a case-by-case basis. How can you combine these two types of service at your company?
Systematic customer service management
Because customer inquiries reach the company through various channels, good response management is necessary. This type of system helps to avoid answering the same questions repeatedly while filling in gaps in service rep knowledge. Vital for the success of any response management system is the knowledge management at its core. It supports the agents in processing individual customer queries. Investment costs for the respective knowledge management system should be reasonable, integration into the existing system architecture feasible, and usability high. When customers call up, they want fast answers. Software with a clearly arranged tree-structure and intelligent search functionality is a big help. To make the most efficient use of this software, the solution should be integrated so that it’s context-sensitive, particularly when it’s part of existing response systems. Service center agents should also be able to enter changes to products directly in the knowledge base — this ensures that the information will be available to other customers as well.
But the biggest benefit of knowledge management comes from including it in the early stages of the customer journey. When information from the knowledge management system is for instance displayed within web-based FAQs or self-service areas in accordance with the customer’s needs, fewer service tickets are generated. And the best ticket is one that never gets submitted. Integrated knowledge management solutions provide ways to start delivering automated customer service experiences.
Web self-service for maximum efficiency
The information contained in the knowledge base can be propagated through websites, apps, and chat bots. When a customer asks a standard question over the channel of their choice, they receive an appropriate response. It can be about product features, expiration dates for discounts, or ordering options. When companies respond to customer inquiries in this way, tickets that would consume additional resources are not generated. The gain in efficiency is enormous. If no self-service option is available because the answers cannot be automatically located in the knowledge base, an agent has to get involved. They use multichannel solutions to provide answers over the desired channel, for instance via email, over the phone, or in chat windows.
A knowledge base populated with the right information can make customer service vastly more efficient. Routine questions are handled by digital assistants and any more involved questions are forwarded to the agents, who add their knowledge to the system, ensuring improved quality — which customers greatly appreciate.
For more information on knowledge management for customer service at companies of all sizes, visit: https://www.getsabio.com/solutions/