It’s a wild ride in the global and US economic landscapes. Rising inflation, shifting trade policies, uncertain labor markets, ongoing supply chain disruptions, budget cuts, and a looming recession have slowed growth and shaken consumer confidence. Businesses, especially contact centers, are trying to grapple with the cost pressures of a turbulent economy while upholding excellent customer service standards. And wow, have those standards gone up!
What can contact centers do to stay afloat, or even thrive, amidst these economic tremors?
Understand What Customers Want
A key culprit of inflating costs and poor experience is a badly executed omnichannel strategy. In a race to go omnichannel, most companies haven’t considered what the customer wants. Do they want more channels, or do they want seamless, efficient resolution? As such, the focus of contact centers should be:
- Routing customers to the ideal channel for their intent
- Keeping the customer within that channel
- Enhancing the agent experience to drive productivity and performance
Leverage Technology to Strike a Balance Between Cost and CX
A major retailer had to shut down hundreds of outlets in 2020 and 2021 and rely on online sales. However, its customer care methods (phone calls and emails) were pricey and inefficient. The brand’s reputation was harmed by lengthy customer service wait times and a 41% abandonment rate. In order to stay in business and prevent bankruptcy, expenditures had to be reduced. Live agents and integrated chatbot and conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology from [24]7.ai were used to address their customer experience (CX) challenge. In just two months, automated bots grew containment to 36%, the FAQ bot instantly answered concerns with an answer rate of 86%, and CSAT improved by 15%.
This is just one illustration of how technology can strike a balance — delivering frictionless CX and routing it to the lowest-cost channel. In an omnichannel world, automation in its many forms — process and task automation, conversational AI, and agent-assist AI solutions — has become indispensable for bridging the gap between customer demands and business realities.
Technology Should Enhance Customer Journeys
While contact center automation is a need in the face of economic uncertainty, it requires a planned and data-based approach to ensure that consumers have the same (or better) experience with digital tools than they did with voice tools.
Automation is not a quick fix. It requires ongoing measurement, tracking, and proactive path correction. Additionally, automation involves revamping processes to increase productivity and efficiency rather than just reducing expenses.
Contributing author: Padhu Bhonsle, Vice President, Strategic Sales and CX Development at [24]7.ai
