Before we talk customer service and chatbots, its important to acknowledge that customers across all sectors have wanted the same things from time immemorial:
- They want to be acknowledged
- They want their questions answered
- They want good service
- They want to feel valued
Customer service itself isn’t rocket science – but 21st-century customer service demands all of these things at speed, wherever the customer is and whenever they communicate.
21st-century customers:
- Need immediate response
- Are likely to be asking questions remotely
- Expect service 24/7
Customers Are Customers Way Before They Buy Anything!
In 2020, a customer looking to send a bouquet of flowers to their mother won’t necessarily be in a florist’s shop. They could be at home cooking dinner or commuting to work, and searching via their phone.
“According to Salesforce customer service is … the support you offer your customers, both before and after they use your products or services” – www.salesforce.com.[1]
The 21st-century customer wants to be recognized as a customer before they set foot anywhere near your bricks-and-mortar shop (if you have one) – which, of course, they might never do, even if they become a year-after-year repeat customer.
In April 2020, industry bible Retail Week reported on ONS (Office for National Statistics) data showing that online purchasing in the UK had reached an all-time high of 30.7% of total retail sales that month. This is set to continue.
Chatbots are responsive, courteous and efficient with your enquirers, and are able to treat them as valued customers before they ever become customers. This creates an early feel-good effect which has serious persuasion factor, turning casual enquirers into valued customers for you – online, and automatically.
Chatbots treat enquirers as valued customers by:
- Responding to questions effectively
- Enhancing your brand’s image through courteous communication
- Exercising patience and consideration with enquirers as if they’re already valued customers
As a result, enquirers feel good about your brand or business and are much more likely to become actual customers.
In the same way, of course, existing customers’ loyalty to your business is enhanced because they get what they want, when and where they want it.
Questions Need to be Answered Fast
Today’s customers don’t wait around long enough to tolerate being put into phone queues, however appealing the muzak – and they don’t like to waste time navigating even simple websites to look for contact information or, worse, to fill out enquiry forms.
21st-century customers hate:
- Unnecessary trips to bricks-and-mortar shops or businesses
- Phone queues
- Speaking to unhelpful, impolite or inexperienced staff
- Navigating websites to find contact information
- ‘Two-stop’ communications, e.g. searching online to find your phone number
- Filling out online enquiry forms
They want answers now, whether their questions are around opening times, product availability, special offers, payment schedules, appointment slots, spare parts ordering … you name it!
The good news is, chatbots can do all of this!
Chatbots are pre-programmed to efficiently answer any number of frequently-asked questions, but their real beauty lies in their learning capabilities – the more customers a chatbot interacts with, the more it learns to anticipate and answer customers’ varying needs and questions. And if a question is just too complex to answer quickly online, the chatbot is programmed anyway to refer those questions to human colleagues.
Fast response times mean great customer service, and again, chatbots excel here at turning enquirers into customers.
Customer Service Deconstructed
How do brands and businesses ‘serve’ customers? Put simply, customer service means giving customers whatever customers need. And remember: for chatbots, customer service starts with enquirers, all of whom are treated as valued customers before they’ve become customers.
When chatbots respond quickly to enquiries, as they automatically do, that’s great customer service. Ditto when chatbots answer specific questions, and when they go the extra mile by giving extra related information before the customer even asks for it.
Customer service lies in the effective, timely delivery of exactly what the customer is looking for. This is what makes today’s customers feel valued, and it’s why chatbots are such a lifeline for customer-facing businesses.
Gabba is a chatbot agency. We build chatbots that:
✅ Reduce operating costs and improve efficiencies
✅ Qualifies clients to understand what support and advice are required
✅ Schedules Appointments
✅ 24/7 Customer Service
✅ FAQs Automated and Answered
If you’d like to schedule a demo and see how our chatbots can help you business just click here!
