People have higher expectations than ever when it comes to customer care. With the development of technology and communications, customers are now seeking immediate gratification.
The average customer believes immediacy and accuracy to be two of the important traits of customer service. The method of interaction is also important for consumers, which gives businesses something to think about. Perhaps the most important question is who their consumers are, and thus how they communicate.
This question and the answers that flow from it highlight the importance of the cloud in customer care today. The cloud gives businesses a chance to please their customers at any time and in any location with its ability to help show who customers are and its long list of tools to provide customer service. That ability is a necessity today.
Rising expectations
Not only do people expect a high level of customer care, but many won’t engage with a business without it. In fact, almost three in every four customers make decisions based on a retailer’s customer service reputation. These consumers enjoy a personal experience, but want a digital option too.
For customers in the United States, a convenient and personalized experience is important. These customers enjoy the convenience of shopping online, and some would even be willing to pay for a better experience. This is particularly the case for millennials, who also share their thoughts online more prominently.
The preference for online shopping shows that a personalized experience doesn’t necessarily mean interacting with people. Instead, the personalization comes with a fulfilling customer engagement.
Meeting expectations with cloud
The cloud enables a number of tools for customer care, including mobile video support, live chat and bots, customer portals, text/SMS, messaging apps, and social platforms.
These tools are supplemented on the cloud by aggregated data, which is easily accessible and provides instant customer information. Beyond this data, choosing the tools that your business leverages is about what best reflects your audience.
Customers today have more choice in products, more information for purchasing decisions, and more channels to seek customer service. This means they can be more selective when it comes to businesses they buy from and the channels they use.
Older audiences are more likely to want to use their phone for customer service, while millennials are gravitating toward digital options. The good news for businesses that are looking to leverage more of these digital tools is that millennials are trendsetters in this regard and will likely lead others to digital options.
Customer care on cloud in action
The rising popularity of online gaming has changed the way in which Activision works. Customer care has expanded from telephone calls to match the online nature of gaming. However, the transition wasn’t easy at first. Information was initially scattered, and gamers were engaging with support agents individually. The support team then had to perform several administrative tasks before being able to communicate with customers about the outage on separate websites for each game.
We worked with Activision to develop a case deflection engine – known as the Online Services Help Portal – for them. This one-stop shop for gamers gives them the ability to find information about performance issues in a simple manner. Meanwhile, Activision is able to accept reports, send notifications, and add alerts for gamers on the same site.
The use of the website is crucial, providing gamers the digital engagement that works best for them. Customers are now able to find information faster, while Activision showcases greater accountability and transparency.
Investing in resources that digitally transform customer care will provide a competitive advantage for your organization. Learn more in our guide Top Technology Trends for Smarter, Strategic Customer Care.
