How to Reinvent Call Centers

The landscape for customer service is changing. New platforms are emerging that change how consumers seek service and engage with brands. In doing so, these platforms are disrupting the traditional call center model. Today’s call centers range from the ancient and decrepit to the ultra-modern and technologically streamlined. Despite the differences in capability, though, they still rely on the telephone to call and connect with customers. As we shift into the messaging era, this is going to change. The maturing millennial generation is sparking a mobile messaging revolution across all age groups. Text-based communication is fast becoming the most-preferred communication method. And to attract, engage, acquire and retain customers in the text-based era, businesses need a customer communication strategy that incorporates mobile messaging. Executives are facing three key challenges:

1. Offering a mobile-native, text-based customer service solution to keep up with changing communication preferences of consumers.
2. Satisfying the demand for always-on, 24-7 responsive service.
3. Maintaining cost-efficiency in the call center.

A solution comes in the form of new technology: chatbots and intelligent automation. Chatbots allow businesses to automate the 80% of general inquiries that are repetitive. This leads to a smaller volume of inquiries requiring live assistance from agents and reduces operational costs while maintaining -- or even improving -- customer satisfaction ratings. It’s this combination of chatbots and human agents that can usher businesses into the messaging era while reinventing the call center model. The Current State of Customer Service Every business strives to provide exceptional experiences that increase customer satisfaction and raise their Net Promoter Scores (NPS). The reality, however, is that executing an effective customer communication strategy is challenging. Often, exceptional customer service is limited by the capabilities of traditional service channels: email, social media and call centers. By 2020, customer experience will have a such a significant impact on business success that it’s expected to play a bigger role in competitive differentiation than price and even product quality. Customer experience and NPS are fast becoming the new business battlegrounds. Providing experiences that meet or exceed the ever-increasing demands of customers could be the difference between success and failure. Call center performance has a significant impact on a company’s NPS and customer satisfaction ratings. Given the direct and personal connection a call center enables between a business and its customers, the overall experience of the interaction can have a major influence on how that person perceives a brand on the 1-10 Net Promoter Score scale. And while call centers work positively by enabling direct connections between businesses and consumers, there are endemic problems for both sides. Businesses are faced with high operating costs and are vulnerable to changing communication trends. Meanwhile, consumers often have to deal with long hold times, outdated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, inter-departmental transfers and inefficient service. See also: 4 Hot Spots for Innovation in Insurance   As new technology such as chatbots and intelligent automation emerges, any business that relies on strong customer service can benefit from innovation. There is a significant opportunity to gain competitive advantage and lead the market by developing call centers that are not only technologically advanced, but also resolve issues with far greater customer satisfaction. The ideal result is customer service that improves the relationship with customers while maintaining cost efficiency for the business. What follows is an outline of the current state of customer service in today’s fast-moving, on-demand and customer-driven world. We also detail how the call center can be reinvented through mobile messaging and intelligent automation to deliver a win-win solution for both businesses and customers. Connected and Demanding: Generation Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers There is a reason why there is so much buzz around millennials: Their generation is one of the largest in U.S. history, and they are maturing into their prime spending years. Starting in 2017, they will have the purchasing power of more than $200 billion annually. The opportunity for businesses to drive revenue and gain market share with this generation is unprecedented. The driving force for new technology and communication trends Millennials are driving mobile and instant messaging adoption. Because they have grown up with technology and information at their fingertips, millennials are highly connected and expect 24/7, on-demand access to the businesses and brands in their lives. Gen X, baby boomers In addition, the millennial obsession with mobile messaging is influencing older age groups, with text-based customer service now an increasingly popular choice for generation X and baby boomers. Generation Z Millennials have also set the precedent for generation Z. Mobile messaging use is even higher among the first true digital natives; they place even more emphasis on personalization and relevance when interacting with companies. The Challenge of Delivering What People Want The adoption of mobile messaging as the preferred communication channel is forcing companies to change how they approach customer service. Today's call centers no longer meet customer expectations. From long wait times to frequent departmental transfers and ineffective IVR systems, customer service can be a frustrating experience for consumers. Now, in 2016, with the proliferation of new technology and 24-7, on-demand services, the shortcomings of customer-contact centers are even more apparent. The competition is fierce, and customers have no forgiveness for poor service. A sub-par experience can destroy a consumer's relationship with a business. Key Business Challenges Affecting Call Centers and Customer Loyalty The shortcomings of the current call center model and its inability to effectively meet the needs of today’s customer also represent a significant opportunity for businesses. There has never been a more appropriate time to dissect the call center and explore new ways to increase its effectiveness. Executives and business owners need to address the following three business challenges to ensure the future success of their contact centers:

1. Offering a mobile-native, text-based customer service solution to keep up with the changing communication preferences of consumers.
2. Satisfying the demand for always-on, 24-7 responsive service.
3. Maintaining cost-efficiency  in call centers.

Each of these areas needs to be explored to maintain, or even improve, customer loyalty and Net Promoter Scores. Challenge 1: Offering a mobile-native, text-based customer service solution One of the drawbacks of telephonic customer service is the limit imposed by the phone on call center agents; they can only answer one customer inquiry per call. This limit drives costs up. In comparison, using mobile and web-based chat, agents can effectively manage as many as five inquiries simultaneously. This significantly reduces operational costs while providing a better experience for customers. Fortunately, thanks to mobile messaging’s rapid rise in popularity, it’s now easier than ever to incorporate mobile chat into an existing customer communication strategy to better engage consumers. Mobile messaging is the modern vehicle for businesses to deliver great customer service at significantly lower costs. The result is a better customer experience that drives loyalty while improving the bottom line. See also: How Chatbots Change Open Enrollment   Using an intuitive interface familiar to more than two billion people, businesses can effectively engage with customers and fans using simple decision trees for fast and convenient issue resolution. Benefits of mobile messaging solutions:

1. On-demand customer service that allows consumers to get the information they need, when they need it, without having to look for it.
2. Faster issue resolution thanks to an agent’s ability to manage more inquiries simultaneously.
3. Reduced, or potentially eliminated, hold times.
4. Real-time conversational connections with customers.
5. Improved customer experience with greater omni-channel service capability.
6. Secure identity authentication and user verification.

Challenge 2: Satisfying the demand for always-on, 24-7 responsive service The role of automation, bots and artificial intelligence in customer communication has become an increasingly popular topic. And as the technology continues to develop, more businesses are starting to realize the benefits of automated customer service and how it can drive customer service ratings higher. Chatbots are virtual agents that operate through natural language processing, meaning they are able to absorb, identify and react to a number of different queries. These sophisticated programs and targeted automated strategies provide an efficient solution to handle the high-volume, repetitive inquiries that overwhelm call centers. Businesses are then freed to devote more time and resources to customers who need one-to-one conversations. They can deliver a far better customer service experience at a far lower cost. As with any emerging technologies, automation and chatbots need to be approached with tact. Currently, the best strategies use both human agents and chatbots. Businesses can test bot technology and assess what’s right for them without drastically affecting customer satisfaction. A good starting point is a website’s frequently asked questions. Today, people are more inclined to seek information themselves than engage with a human agent. Using chatbots to automate FAQs is a cost-efficient test that can form the foundation for larger automation plans as the technology develops. Chatbots can be used as the front-line customer service interface to answer the majority of repetitive inquiries. This combination helps businesses improve efficiencies without compromising customer satisfaction ratings. Challenge 3: Maintaining call center cost efficiency Businesses can improve customer communication and drive customer satisfaction ratings by following a simple five-step process to automation: 1. Opportunity Analysis

• Review customer service data
• Examine IVRs and CSR scripts
• Conduct Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis
• Identify all opportunities for automation

2. Chatbot Design

• Sketch blueprints including flow designs for all areas
• Identify integrations needed to enable bots

3. Engineering and Integrations

• Receive blueprint approval
• Develop bots for intuitive user experience.

4. User-Acceptance Testing

• Demo bots in test environment
• Adjust as necessary

5. Activation and Optimization

• Conduct marketing efforts for Phase I onboarding
• Track usage analytics and fine-tune
• Benchmark performance against key performance indicators.

With this approach, businesses are able to automate as much as 80% of low-level, repetitive inquiries, saving call center agents for the complex and uncommon issues that require the nuanced knowledge of a live agent. This results in faster issue resolution and more efficient service. Chatbots: An Emerging Technology Other technologies may help improve call centers incrementally, but chatbots offer the best, most revolutionary opportunity to scale their capacity and ensure future success. If archaic call center models can’t innovate and keep up with changing consumer trends, they’ll fast become obsolete. See also: Mobile Messaging: How to Meet Rules   As with any emerging technology, chatbots are still experiencing growing pains. They’re not perfect; key development issues must be overcome to improve the flow of conversation. Increased investment in chatbots and NLP will help the technology mature fast. And as it does, chatbots will increase in capability and become more common, providing new opportunities for businesses across all industries.