7 Min
Customer service is the key to improving brand value for any brand. Customers feel that service is bad or not up to their mark if brands have a slow response rate. This has been a metric every contact center has been trying to improve on. With improvements in technology, it is possible for customers to get their solutions without much hassle.
Before we get into how to improve the slow response rate to customer queries, let’s look into the common problems customers face.
Table of contents
The 4 most common problems faced by customers
1. Long hold time
Many customers approach contact centers for their queries and are first put on hold when they call. After selecting the option a customer wants, there could be times when the call traffic is too much, and agents at the contact center cannot handle it all at once.
Be it being understaffed or that agents are unavailable for support or any other likes, the ultimate thing that is happening is the customer is not being catered to. Prolonging wait time at call centers will agitate customers, who might feel that the call center is wasting their time.
2. Too technical to understand
In the case of technical products or issues, sometimes it is not the slow response rate, but the time it takes for the customer to understand a product properly. If a customer just bought a gadget and is not capable of setting it up and needs help, they might contact the contact center for help.
The customer not understanding the explanation of at least 3 goals is not beneficial to both parties; it is taking up the customer’s time. Two, the agent could have increased the AHT rate.
3. No guides for customers
Unlike the older ones, the new generation of customers seems to have no time. They would most likely google answers in this running race of a life they face. What they would like is a portal for self-service.
And in self-service proper guides etc., they wouldn’t have to seek help from a third-party website or, even worse, be left with no answers because of unique features a product might contain with the lack of guides for customers.
4. Limited support channels
A customer in the second decade of the 21st century is not far behind and would like to use fast-answering modes of customer support and the medium they would prefer. For example, A person using a laptop might not like using their phone to contact customer care. Meanwhile, another might like to visit the store.
Limiting the number of support channels means less resolution of queries and more customers unsatisfied with the product purchased. Not responding to the customer through their preferred channel would decrease customer liking.
Is there one solution to all these problems?
You might be surprised, but there is one solution to all the problems stated above to improve customer response rate. A knowledge management system is a perfect solution to overcome problems just a few days after implementation.
5 Tips to improve the slow response rate
1. 24*7 support
Knowledge management software has an AI-powered knowledge base that helps store all information in one place and process it for the customer. In case of the unavailability of an agent due to a surge in calls, you can opt to use this technology in your chatbots.
This knowledge base feature helps respond to customers through chatbots and is intelligent enough to answer like a human. So the customer behind the screen feels like he is interacting with a human.
2. Resolution in seconds
Knowledge-based software has two unique features that can help decrease AHT at a contact center. One is that there is only one platform for all the information needed, so there is no time wasted quickly answering the customer’s questions.
Two, integrating CRM into the scripting tools would save a lot of time asking for details of the customers. It also helps customers reach solutions within 7 steps using the agent scripting tools provided.
3. AR-powered support
Technical terms can be tough, and if the customer is not tech-savvy or does not understand a product, knowledge management helps deliver solutions in real time through co-browsing.
A platform with a feature that is AR-enabled can provide remote support to customers by involving visual elements that make everything less complicated and easy to understand. This also reduces field visits and helps cater to more customers quickly.
4. Self-service guides
As discussed, customers prefer self-service guides before calling a contact center for more information. A knowledge base makes it easy to create guides for customers and place articles or FAQs that customers need on a website or an app to help customers cater to themselves.
This is a benefit to the customers and also contact centers; this is so because it helps easier problems to be self-solved, and therefore when a problem is solved, it helps deflect calls to a contact center.
5. Unlimited support through channels
Just one medium is never enough; to cater to a large group of customer queries, the brand needs to be within reach of the medium the customer wants. This could mean in the store or through the web or contact centers.
AI knowledge base helps maintain one source of information for uniform content across all channels. It also provides features to format and previews the content on various mediums before publishing any information.
Conclusion
We know that a slow response rate could cost anyone their customers. However, the solution for this is just a step away. It is indeed a miraculous software, one can say.
With technological advancements, customer services have come this far; hop on the bandwagon now to help your customers and advance to a new era with each update in the software system.
