Customer service

Q: What is best practice now?

A: The rapid adoption of AI-powered tools and virtual assistants is transforming the contact centre landscape. As customers increasingly turn to these self-service channels for support, we are seeing a corresponding reduction in demand for traditional contact centre interactions. Research from CustomerGauge and Harvard Business Review shows that 67% to 81% of customers prefer to resolve issues independently before contacting a human advisor. This means that when customers do escalate to a human, their expectations are often higher – placing greater emphasis on the quality of that interaction. As a result, it’s increasingly important to deliver an excellent experience when customers engage with a human advisor in the contact centre.

Onboarding journeys matter. When welcoming a new customer, it should be clear, intuitive and informative. Each touchpoint should provide an opportunity to highlight key features and it’s important that advisors understand this and promote the benefits of their purchase to new customers.

The ability to identify and resolve all problems efficiently is of paramount importance, and a structured complaints process can provide customers with reassurance and create confidence in the brand. In an article published by Salesforce, 78% of customers will do business with a brand again after a mistake if the customer service is excellent, so it’s important that advisors demonstrate ownership of a problem, are well coached and equipped with the right tools to solve any problem that comes their way.

Equally, the offboarding experience is just as important and should be handled with care. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) promotes transparency, can be implemented without increasing churn, and promotes trust which in turn creates the condition for a customer to return in the future. A consultative and empathetic approach to your customers can leave a lasting impression, even at the point of exit.

User experience is just as important as customer experience and providing advisors with a user-friendly, omnichannel contact centre tool reduces the amount of time they spend hopping between systems doing repetitive, laborious admin. Supporting advisors with great tools allows them to focus on solving customer issues efficiently while delivering a great experience.

Q: How do you see it changing in the future?

A: Customer service is evolving towards fully digital, end-to-end experiences. No longer constrained by traditional opening hours, AI-powered, virtual agent journeys will enable customers to complete tasks such as updating personal details, requesting replacements, and managing renewals anytime, day or night. Consider the functionality on a self-service portal. These are ideal actions that are already customer led and prime for an automated experience. Simple questions like, “When does my subscription start?” are best handled by a virtual agent – giving almost instant answers anytime of the day.

However, not all customers will want to interact with a bot, and human advisors can offer a great deal of value when it comes to tackling complex issues, cancel saves and effectively promoting cross sells. Different customer cohorts will have a different response to technology, so we need to be mindful of not sending customers down a route they don’t want to go. Creating rapport is still best left to humans and, where there is an opportunity to add value from the contact centre, then humans are best placed to deliver great results.

In a survey by Gartner, 64% of customers would prefer that companies didn’t use AI for customer service, so there is a responsibility to ensure that journeys are created with careful consideration, making sure that they remain customer centric.

Being transparent with the customer, explaining that they’re talking to a virtual agent, clear signposting such as “just one more question” and giving the customer an exit route (ie access to a human) will help build the customer’s confidence. The benefit of AI is that it can reduce friction and provide efficiencies, but poor implementation could frustrate customers or leave them in a perpetual loop getting nowhere with an errant bot flow.

As contact centre technology evolves, alongside rising customer expectations, human expertise will remain an essential component. The role of organisations will be to strike the right balance by implementing appropriate safeguards and continuously coaching virtual agents, just as they would human advisors.

Q: What are your three top tips?

1. Customer centric journeys supported by automation: When designing customer journeys, we should be led by customer choice rather than chasing automation alone. Use AI to enhance the experience without forcing individuals into channels they don’t want to use and always provide a clear and easy route to a human when needed.

2. Use high value human interactions to drive value: As automation becomes more prevalent, the interactions that reach a human advisor carry greater importance, so we should focus on delivering high quality, empathetic and effective support in the moments that matter most.

3. Balance technology with trust and experience: Achieving great customer service requires a careful balance between technology and trust, with transparent use of AI, strong end-to-end journey design and continued investment in both customer and agent experience through the right tools, processes and ongoing coaching.

About Air Business

Air Business is an award-winning organisation with 40 years’ experience in global distribution, subscription management and technology solutions, renowned for delivering through market-leading service quality and customer service. Trusted by leading brands across publishing, events and e-commerce since 1986, we operate through a global network, delivering smart, scalable subscription and logistics services with a human touch.

Email: hello@airbusiness.com

Tel: +44 (0) 1727 890 600

Web: www.airbusiness.com