With more than half of businesses (56%) making customer experience the top business priority for 2022, what are the key areas for investment for a successful customer growth strategy?
Customers want on-demand service that’s available whenever they need it, on whatever channel they choose. They’re not looking to waste time updating agents on their order or issue. With businesses struggling to implement new capabilities in ways that will benefit their customers and their balance sheets, and ticket volumes increasing across all channels (WhatsApp usage increased 370% in 2021), there is an growing necessity for AI, Automation, and conversational customer service technologies.
AI & Automation
26% of companies surveyed in Zendesk’s 2022 CX Trends Report currently offer AI and chatbot-guided self-service, with 25% planning to add this capability in the near future. Businesses are increasingly allocating more of their customer service technology budgets to AI, and with good reason.
26% of companies report allocating a quarter or more of their customer service tech budget to AI, with 43% planning to spend up to a quarter more in the next year. Companies are aware that the potential gain for them is massive – nearly one in five business leaders say they get a very high return on investment from AI and automation when it’s done right.
However, whilst attitudes towards AI are changing, with 69% of customers reporting that they’re willing to interact with a bot on simple issues – an increase of 23% from the previous year - there are still challenges when it comes to practical application of AI technologies.
Whilst bots can free up time for agents to focus on complex problems by responding to customers at all hours, guiding customers to relevant information in a help or FAQ centre, or even creating a ticket for humans to pick up when they’re back in the office, an ad hoc approach to AI integration is a real and present danger.
Half of businesses surveyed agreed that chatbot performance had been disappointing to date, acknowledging that without an overarching strategy or clear understanding of potential pitfalls, they are standing in their own way when it comes to realizing the full benefits of AI.
“Doing it right” is really the crux of it – customers are increasingly willing to turn to chatbots for simple problems, but expect a smooth handoff if a bot isn’t solving their issue. The biggest frustration for over half of customers surveyed is the number of questions they must answer before being transferred to a human agent.
Just over two thirds of customers give AI a thumbs up for making their lives easier, but for organisations to drive and sustain desired growth in 2022, a robust approach to integration and the overall experience is essential.
Conversational Customer Service
Conversational customer service offers the ability to deliver fast, personalised, uninterrupted service across web, mobile, and social apps. With customers increasingly turning to social messaging apps when they connect with companies, their tolerance for waiting for agents to find information that should be readily available, and their patience when it comes to repeating themselves, is at an all time low.
Today’s customers expect a seamless experience across every channel – they’re looking to carry conversations across a lifetime of interactions with a business in the same way they conduct conversations with friends and family. When just a third of companies are currently omnichannel, there are many opportunities to offer the channels and experiences that are driving greater loyalty and lifetime value.
Conversational experiences are a big priority for businesses, with more than a third of companies reporting that they have already integrated conversational customer service capabilities. Companies are looking to move away from the siloed chat experience that stops and starts whenever a customer reaches out (or switches channel) which is why 69% have plans to consolidate their existing systems and the focus for many is on adding and integrating with other messaging channels (Apple Business Chat, Google Business Messages) and other social messaging options (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger).
Even the most successful customer service teams are only as good as what’s in their toolkit – which is why AI, Automation and Conversational Customer Service are such prominent areas for investment in 2022.
You can read the full 2022 CX Trends Report here.
If you’d like to discuss your priorities around AI, Automation, or Conversational service, contact us to book a consultation call.