Help, my customer wants a portal and a chatbot!
In today's digital age, customers prefer to be in control. They don't want to stand on hold endlessly at the service desk only to be poorly served. Instead, they want to arrange their affairs independently, with a few simple clicks, instantly. Whether placing an order in an online shop or finding information about an order, the modern consumer expects fast and efficient handling with as little contact as possible. But how do you ensure that customers are able to do this, and that self-service works well?
One of the biggest challenges in implementing efficient self-service is making sure customers can quickly find the information they need. This can be done, for example, through a self-service portal or a chatbot. Today, companies are investing heavily in new technologies such as (conversational) AI to improve the customer experience. However, research shows that the deployment of these technologies is often unsuccessful: only 8% of questions to chatbots and 9% of questions to voice assistants are answered correctly.
If customers still have to call customer service despite the deployment of chatbots, this incurs extra costs and customer satisfaction drops significantly. This kind of situation leads to frustration for both customers and employees. To enable customers to handle their requests independently, it is essential to properly align customer channels, internal processes and the necessary data. If internal processes and data are unavailable or incomplete, it is impossible to provide the right solutions without employee intervention.
Another important aspect to consider is the differences between generations. Younger customers are often more inclined to use emerging contact channels such as WhatsApp or live chat, while a majority of older people go straight to calling. Especially the generation referred to as Gen-Z uses chatbots en masse for gathering information and making purchases, where older generations are still reluctant. By capitalising on these differences and deploying the right channels and communication tools, companies can better tailor their service to the needs and preferences of their target audience.
Thus, to enable customers to access information and manage their own affairs on their preferred channel, organisations need to start looking at their underlying systems. When processes, data, IT tools, policies and channels are in place, self-service is much more streamlined. Vasco Consult can play an important role in this. We understand better than anyone how important it is to respond to changing customer demand. With years of experience in optimising processes and data, we support companies in making their systems and processing more efficient and effective. These improvements not only lead to cost savings for the company, but also to satisfied customers. Because when things are in order internally, portal and chatbot function correctly and customers can really do it themselves.
Contact Vasco Consult and discover how we can help you take your self-service to the next level: info@vasco-consult.com
