Service channels in digital marketing, There are many channels available for digital customer service but some are often overlooked. Not all channels are appropriate to all organizations. For example, an e-commerce site may offer a live chat facility to enable people to get quick answers but this would not be appropriate for a B2B manufacturing business where customers have dedicated relationship managers.
Online content
There is a great deal that organizations can do to proactively solve customer service demands simply by answering common questions and providing information openly. As we mentioned above, by understanding our customers we can deliver what we know they want without the need for those customers to get in contact with us. This information can come in a number of forms but must at all times be fresh. This means that providing product specifications, guides, ‘how to’ videos and much more can be useful, but if these are not updated regularly then they become a customer issue rather than resolution.
There is also far less value in online documentation if customers do not know it is there. You should ensure that customers are made aware of your ‘help zone’ when they become customers and you could consider promoting it to customers on a regular basis or including it within your newsletter. If you keep the content really fresh, with monthly guides on how to use your products or services, then customers may proactively seek out your content. This all reduces e-mails, calls and chat requests, which keeps your customers satisfied and keeps your resource requirements low.
Live chat
Live chat, sometimes known as web chat, allows your customers to use an online chat window to talk directly to your customer service representatives. This is text based and should not be confused with video chat. This method, whilst digital, still has a traditional offline service approach in that you need agents to hold the conversation and these agents need to have good product knowledge, access to a customer service system and to follow all of the principles we mentioned above.
There are some distinct advantages and disadvantages to live chat versus the traditional call-centre approach and, whilst they are not mutually exclusive, this is a useful lens to use when assessing the channel:
● Advantages to live chat:
- Not always on: it can be switched off or changed into a contact form when you do not have the capacity to be able to handle the volume.
- Copy and paste: you can send direct links to helpful areas of the site rather than having to talk the customer through how to navigate to somewhere.
- Knowledge: as well as accessing a knowledge base, an agent has the ability to ask their colleagues without having to put the customer on hold.
- Language: the issue of regional accents disappears through text-based communication. This can remove what can be an issue for some customers.
- Multitasking: agents are sometimes able to help multiple customers at once without each customer knowing, which can be far more efficient.
● Disadvantages to live chat:
- Appropriate: it may not be appropriate for your audience. Almost all people are comfortable using a phone but some are still not comfortable using digital technology.
- Patience: if you do not respond quickly the customer is likely to have less patience than if you do not answer the phone quickly.
- Mobile: whilst calling someone from a mobile is very simple, live chat does not always function well from a user experience perspective. This is primarily because much of the software has not yet been optimized to as broad a range of devices as is necessary. Whilst this is likely to change in the future, it remains a current issue.
Based on the above list of advantages it can be seen why live chat can be a very powerful tool if used with an appropriate audience.
Forums
Forums have been around for many years and remain an important part of the internet. As we continue to drive towards creating digital communities the forums remain a powerful tool for sharing information and helping others. They can also be an incredibly powerful tool for reducing contacts from customers by proactively solving problems. Some consumers can have as much, if not more, knowledge of your products or services than your customer service representatives. At the very least they can offer a different perspective – that of the practical use by a peer. Your representative, no matter how talented, can never offer a truly independent opinion in the customer’s mind. Forums have one common feature that is simultaneously the major advantage and the major disadvantage. This is that there is little input needed from your organization. You may steer the categories and some of the subjects but you will not be originating the content that is posted. This means that there is no need to produce the content or manage it on an ongoing basis. This clearly creates a significant efficiency saving and ensures that you have helped your customers to find the answers they need with very little direct effort. This sounds too good to be true.
Transparency
As with the customer service principle we mentioned above, this is important. You must not delete content simply because you don’t like it or you disagree with it. Keeping the forum open and honest is vital to its success. You should, however, engage with the user and try to take the issue offline to be solved.
Rules
Develop a set of rules for your forum that are clearly promoted to ensure everyone who signs up has read and accepted them. This is not a way of guaranteeing the correct use of the forum but is a way of removing the content that does not follow the rules, without causing any complaints. First, however, it is important to try to get the user to remove the post themselves before you take further action; this will help to maintain a personal approach.
Stay involved
Take part in discussions and try to help and guide wherever possible. Do not get into disagreements in the forum but try to add value and steer conversations away from negative views towards positive outcomes.
E-mail customer service has been used for many years now and remains a common method of communication for many. It allows customers to take their time to build their argument and attach relevant information. It also reduces the need for a conversation, which many customers will find difficult due to the potentially confrontational nature of a complaint. From an organization’s perspective it allows you to assess the information provided and return a response within a prescribed time frame, which can be helpful. It also maintains a written history of the conversation. It can be argued that many digital channels offer these same features but, though that is true, e-mail is the channel that has been established for much longer than most digital service channels and so is the one that almost all customers will feel most comfortable with if their need is not urgent. What is important within e-mail, however, is managing response time frames and this can be done effectively through automated messaging.
Similar to the old post method we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, once an e-mail is sent, the sender has no way of knowing what will happen next. It is vital therefore that when the customer sends you an e-mail, either directly or through submitting an online form, they receive a response that sets their expectations. These e-mails should state the time frame of response and also what the customer submitted and any details such as the date and time. This e-mail should be personalized and where possible should include details about who will be making contact with them, so as to set up a personal relationship. Having some set replies for specific areas ready to send out can be hugely advantageous in ensuring consistency and saving time. These are sometimes referred to as ‘canned replies’. These can simply be copied and pasted into the e-mails to answer the relevant queries. It is vital, however, that these are read through and checked to ensure they still seem personal and contextual before being sent. We discussed tone of voice above and, again, that is highly relevant here. Ensuring that your e-mails are friendly, positive and simple (without being patronizing) is vital. You can, and should where relevant, also include links to key documents and relevant locations on your site that the customer can visit to solve their issue.
Finally, ensure you are always moving towards, demonstrating and speaking of an end resolution so that, with each e-mail in the chain, the customer feels that progress is being made.
Callbacks
Callbacks remain a common form of customer service for those customers who are not looking for an immediate response. They can, therefore, be frustrating for those customers who need help quickly but are presented with no other options. Callbacks have the advantage of enabling customer service departments to manage the call levels entirely as they wish but clearly take this control away from the customer. Best practice is to include a time frame for when this call will occur and this should be precise. If it is possible for your organization to manage your call times to within half an hour then this would be a good aim for businesses where customers are looking for a quick response. Where the response can be slower, ie a matter of days, then simply suggesting time frames such as morning, afternoon or evening are normally acceptable and allow for simpler management within the service centre.
Co-browsing
In simple terms co-browsing is two or more people accessing the same web pages at the same time and this duplication of experience allows a customer service agent to understand a customer’s needs better. This can be especially helpful in helping a user to complete an action such as a purchase and it offers a more personal experience than a simple phone call or live chat. It is often used when a conversation is proving difficult without being able to see where the user is struggling. It can therefore deliver stronger results than other channels alone.
According to Kate Leggett in 2011, ‘Live-assist communication channels (phone, chat, co-browse) have much higher satisfaction ratings than asynchronous electronic channels (e-mail, web self-service). Satisfaction ratings are: phone (74 per cent), chat (69 per cent), co-browse (78 per cent), e-mail (54 per cent), and web self-service (47 per cent)’ (Leggett, 2011).
This is a very powerful tool and, when combined with a click-to-call function, can offer real insight into the customer’s unique situation and can be especially helpful in technical support and other areas where your products or forms may be complicated. It is essential, however, that this technology is integrated with your service centre’s existing technology and this can be one of the biggest challenges. There is another opportunity with co-browsing – the ability to up-sell, but which would, however, be inappropriate in the majority of service situations. Whilst helping to guide a user through a process you have the opportunity to talk to them about the decisions they make and this may help them to realize that they should be purchasing something that they had disregarded when browsing alone. This should not be a primary goal of co-browsing but it can be an advantage.