This article was written by Paul Joustra, Digital Transformation Project Lead at Teleperformance

It's been months into the pandemic, and businesses are still trying to navigate the impact of COVID-19 on their customer service, specifically, in how customers want to communicate with brands. To adapt to the many restrictions of the pandemic to the buying experience, many customers went online, and we see volumes increasing up to 300%. 

With the new normal came new challenges.

However, the increase in online and digital interactions also resulted in unmanageable volumes for most companies that were still solving their business continuity challenges. This inability to handle contact spikes led to longer waiting times and higher abandon rates, which led to decreased customer satisfaction and revenue loss. 

What can be done?

The rapid digitalization due to the pandemic completely altered both consumer behavior and brand offerings. With social media rising as a customer service channel, brands quickly modified their purchasing experience to integrate digital channels. In fact, 80% of companies believe that their core business model should be digitized to remain economically viable, according to McKinsey.

Moreover, there are digital and self-service tools that brands can leverage while serving as a cost-effective investment to reduce contact volume, decrease expenses, and improve customer satisfaction. Such is the case of digital self-service, which is gaining popularity among customers who choose to solve the issue themselves. 

It is also essential for brands to be on the channel that customers use. With 89% of mobile users interacting via messaging apps every month*, companies must meet consumers halfway and become more accessible. But how can companies integrate chat into their customer journey?

Blending the old and the new

The solution is the seamless transition between different channels, from voice, email, SMS, and  messaging into one platform. Digital a-synchronous messaging enables brands to deflect calls to messaging and chat where intelligent automation works hand-in-hand with Interaction Experts in solving customer issues. This solution drives faster customer-brand communication, as bots can directly solve repetitive problems and send more complex matters to interaction experts at a lower cost.

This blend of a high-tech, high-touch solution enables companies to handle large contact volumes while meeting customer expectations and increasing overall satisfaction by:

• Being accessible 24/7, as AI bots can easily and quickly provide solutions to common customer concerns for a lower cost
• Reducing customer effort, allowing consumers to make contact on their preferred channel
• Ensuring customer-centricity using personalized notifications, reminders, or verifications, depending on what the customer needs
• Being proactive by sending tips, recommendations, and options that customers want

Adapting to the new way of customer experience is a must to thrive in this new normal. At Teleperformance, we combine our over 40 years of customer management experience with advanced technologies like Voice2Messaging to help companies fulfill customer demands while maintaining brand loyalty. 

Learn more about our digital messaging solution here or connect with us.

*datareportal/DIGITAL 2020: GLOBAL DIGITAL OVERVIEW