The ‘personal touch’ makes all the difference for customers and is expected from SMBs. When a customer feels seen, heard, appreciated, and cared for, the outcome is better business results and happier customers — even if the customer came to you initially due to a problem.
If you are worried that the quality of your customer service will weaken if you move toward customer service software… Don’t be. With the right software, you can actually enhance the level of personalized care you give to each customer at scale.
The best customer service software helps SMBs leave outdated ticketing systems in the past, embracing smarter, more efficient, and altogether more successful human-centric service.
Let’s go through some features that are absolute musts for handling customer support.
Three must-have tech features for SMB CX
Agents need to have every piece of information at their fingertips for a seamless customer service experience. An in-app information hub is central to all this, where vital data is just a few clicks away.
Agents need to be able to answer questions quickly and accurately when chatting with customers. According to our research, 73% of consumers have to constantly repeat themselves when seeking customer support. And six in ten agents lack the information they need to resolve a customer query.
By the time a customer reaches a service agent after being on hold, they’re usually pretty fed up with the experience so far. The last thing they want to do is repeat basic information like their name, and account number, or remember who they spoke with in the past.
The best way to avoid this? Storing all your customer and product data in one central, easy-to-use digital hub. That way, your service agents are ready to jump right into solving whatever problems your customers present, with far less stress and circular questioning.
The kind of data that can be stored includes:
- Past interactions the consumer has had with your company
- Their order and subscription history
- Their location
- Answers to FAQs and links that agents can follow to solve problems effectively.
Agents have to deal with countless inquiries every day — and they can’t be expected to know all the answers, right away. At the same time, though, they shouldn’t have to dig through folders, scroll through PDFs about protocol or rely on Google to find solutions for customers.
Implementing a centralized knowledge base saves your agents precious time and makes for quick and easy answer-finding. This makes customers happy and reduces stress for your staff. That’s a win-win!
2 – Automated query routing
Customer service agents are trained to answer queries as they come in. And yet, 75% of agents admit to self-selecting customer issues, browsing through the inquiries, and choosing which to solve first.
It’s only natural… but it can cause problems. When the simpler issues get solved first, the more complicated problems are left for last –– and that’s extremely frustrating for the customers who are dealing with it on their end!
AI can prioritize and organize customer queries faster — and better — with automated query routing. It’s an essential tool that all CX teams need in their arsenal. We found that 68% of companies with automated routing have a customer service satisfaction score (CSAT) of 5, versus only 9% of companies operating without an automated routing score.
Automated routing isn’t just about dividing customer queries equally. AI can access historic and contextual data in real-time and ensure that each inquiry goes to the best agent available. This decision can be based on priority, previous interaction history, agent skill set, and more.
With automated routing, no customer is left waiting, stressful call backlogs are a thing of the past, no one’s trying to solve something outside their expertise — and absolutely no one gets left behind.
3 – A chatbot
Virtual assistants can’t be undervalued in modern customer service. If your company doesn’t have a chatbot, then you’re really missing out — and the good news is, all the best customer service software for SMBs will have this feature baked in.
While getting on the phone with a real-life agent is still necessary for certain tasks and escalations, a chatbot is a perfect way to deal with simple customer questions as and when they arise.
Chatbots can be made available 24/7, 365 days a year. But when and how you use your virtual assistant can be ‘make or break’ for your customer base.
Using automated chats at the wrong time is a huge turn-off for customers, especially if they feel like they can’t get hold of a real human when they need one. Chatbots have to be used strategically, hand-in-hand with live agents, and not as a replacement for humans across the board.
Your chatbot is best placed to address repetitive and low-value questions, like explaining refund policies or order status requests. Delegating these simple tasks will give your human agents more time to focus on complex issues that require empathetic human responses.
Should customers know when they are messaging a virtual assistant? Yes and no. Dixa Bot actually ‘talks’ and interacts with customers in a human way. That means greetings, clarifications, and asking important questions to guide your customers to resolution in a fast and satisfying way.
Yes, it’s efficient. But, no, it doesn’t feel like a robot. Dixa Bot can also seamlessly integrate with mobile apps like Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as being used on desktop so you can meet your customers where they already are.
Your CX depends on personalized service, and using the best customer service software empowers your agents to go above and beyond.
Now you can see just how important these three tech features are when handling customer service. In-app information, automated query routing, and a chatbot are the software must-haves that take your SMB’s customer service from “good” to “incredible” — and Dixa provides them all in one easy-to-use platform.
Ready to transform your customer experience? Book a demo to see how Dixa works.