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3 Reasons A.I. Customer Service Makes Financial Sense

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As customers, we will never go backwards. We will keep demanding more and better and faster. If we don’t get it, we will vote with our feet and our social media voices.

As businesses, if we don’t invest in continuously improving customer service we can only compete on price, that joyless race to the bottom.

If you’re serious about a great customer experience then it’s time to get real about artificial intelligence (AI) because the return on investment is measurable and significant.

Businesses implementing AI in their customer experience are not replacing their existing model, they are augmenting the model where it makes financial sense. So where does it make sense?

Customer Support Cost Reduction

As organisations add new customers or new products and services their customer support request volumes increase. Using an automated agent as a first responder resolves the simple, repetitive requests that don’t require human intervention.

When the requests are more complex or require escalation the automated agent delivers a warmed up customer where the live support agent is briefed on the customer need and the customer does not have to repeat the basics of their issue.

Real Savings

Reduction in support requests requiring a live agent and/or a phone call.
Live agents maximise productivity in dealing with a smaller volume of more complex tasks that only a human being can solve and reducing the brain drain of answering repetitive questions.
Machine learning from automated agent conversations is more rapidly mobilised into website FAQ and support documentation.

Expansion of Customer Self-Service

Companies with developed customer portals already allow customers to manage their own accounts, but customers still want and need a helping hand even if they are logged into a portal.

Once authenticated, automated agents can better support the customer based on their personal history within the portal. Transactions, previously logged support requests and access to rebates and discounts are just a sample of what an automated agent can serve up all in one place and in one conversation.

Real Savings

Reducing customer churn. Providing an adaptable, personalised experience and delivering information in a timely and useful way is critical for customer retention.
For organisations it provides real time feedback on how well the customer portal is functioning. Easily gauge and improve on the customer experience by understanding what is used and/or confused.

Improved Sales Conversions

For eCommerce sites reducing any point of purchase friction is a critical, but sometimes frustrating pursuit. In the case of some businesses the retail experience is only online, and overheads are already stretched across multiple areas of the business and staffing a phone or live chat 24/7 isn’t financially viable.

Using a combination of automated support and personalised data retrieval, customers receive timely advice, supported by previous purchase data and available loyalty rewards.

Improved Bottom Line

  1. More sales conversions per site visitors and/or unique sessions
  2. Less abandoned carts
  3. Improved sales through remarketing efforts

Using AI to enhance the customer experience has clear financial benefits, but it also helps improve the person to person experience too.

As customers we want to know our money and our time is valued and adding AI to the customer support experience doesn’t just say that, it SHOWS it.

The Top 3 Customer Loyalty Tools You Can Use Today

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Getting the most value out of every single customer is a huge challenge for every business. Very few organisations invest adequate resources into improving the customer journey. But for those that do, the payoff can be immense.

Customer loyalty is the cornerstone of success for many small businesses. It’s widely known that retention is far cheaper than acquisition. However, when it comes to retaining those valued clients, many business owners don’t know where to start.

Excellent customer service and a quality product simply won’t cut it in today’s competitive world. In order to keep your customers coming back, they need to benefit from doing business with you. This is where loyalty programs come in.

To save you some time and effort, we’ve put in the hours to find the best customer loyalty programs that money can buy. These may not be appropriate for every business, but they’ll certainly give you an idea of exactly what you need to do to get as much bang for your buck as possible from every customer.

Belly

Belly is one of the largest digital loyalty apps in the world. Integrating a huge array of features, it’s become one of the leading choices for small businesses across a range of industries.

Built on the experiences of thousands of small businesses, Belly emphasises data collection and personalised rewards systems to retain clients. Some of the top features of Belly include:

  • Immediate collection of customer info.
  • Simple, integrated email marketing campaigns.
  • Easy social media management (with a strong emphasis on customer acquisition and exposure).

Belly allows you to customise your own rewards programs to suit the needs of your customers. By using mass customer data, you can refine your rewards program to be even more effective over time.

Belly claims to increase customer visits by 54%, which is a significant amount for any business.

Spring Rewards

Spring Rewards bridges the gap between the online and the offline world. One of the standout features of Spring Rewards is the collection of credit card data, allowing your customers to transition between a physical presence in your store and simply shopping online.

Spring Rewards is a standout analytics platform. With real-time collection of spending data from your clients, Spring Rewards allows you to deliver customised incentives to existing customers, giving you the opportunity to increase the value of every single transaction.

The best part about Spring Rewards is its simplicity. With very little requirement for training and a simple setup, anyone can start using Spring Rewards. However, don’t underestimate it – if you gather enough data and segment your audience accurately, Spring Rewards can be a very powerful tool.

 

Spendgo

Spendgo is one of the market leaders for true customer journey tracking. Designed to add value to every step of the journey, Spendgo is a fantastic tool for really getting the most out of every touch point you have with your customers.

Boasting closed loop promotions which can be highly segmented and customised, and top-notch reporting, Spendgo is the way to go for anyone who wants to ensure they aren’t losing their customers’ interest.

One of the more powerful tools available with Spendgo is highly customised outbound campaigns via SMS and email. Once you have a client’s data, any activity they pursue on-site or instore only adds to the high level of customisation you can achieve.

Checking Out

Choosing the right customer loyalty program can be incredibly difficult. At the end of the day, every business has different needs and widely varying customer bases. Understanding your clients and the type of rewards they desire is key to choosing the right loyalty software for your business. Ultimately, there are handfuls of valid customer loyalty programs you could begin implementing today. All you need is a bit of time for research and implementation, you’ll be thanking yourself for doing it – and trust us; so will your customers.

5 Online Tips for 2015

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Contrary to some commentators we are finding companies quite excited about 2015. They are busting out of the gates and they have a better understanding of online world then even a year ago.

We rebuilt our own website last year and we know first hand the digital world can change a lot in a short time. When looking at your online presence in 2015 consider the following 5 things:

1. Your sales leads have probably seen you first – While you have your own sales process to bring in new leads there are just as many people out there that have probably come across you in their research. So think about what information you would consistently want to share with people if they were calling you directly. There is never a bad time to evaluate your 15 second speech on what it is you do.

2. Use the data – hopefully you already know what your website, blog and social media visitors are like. But if you don’t you should check what information is being tracked online for your business and then figure out how to make it work better for you.

3. Get mobile – we beat this drum a lot last year and we will keep up the same tune. There are 5 billion mobile phones in use and if people have to squint or constantly pinch and zoom to get to what they need on your website then they probably chose a competitor instead

4. Make your website useful – consider selling products on your website, not just advertising them. Or if you don’t want to sell but want to spend less time on the phone explaining your products then build a site that is well-organised to do that talking for you. Remember – they have probably already researched you before they call anyway and this is an awesome way to stand out.

5. Plan to add good content – we are big fans of the blog and social media but the most important fan of fresh content is Google. And for those with marketing budgets big and small adding fresh content to your website on a regular basis not only attracts visitors, it might just lead to the next product or service innovation you have been looking for.

Keep it fresh, keep it current and keep the human touch and check out our new site when you get a chance – and don’t forget to download our Free Guide to Website Design.

Happy New Year!