Businesses are nothing without their customers. And as much as you would love the opportunity to connect individually with each and every one of them, unfortunately that isn’t possible (especially if you’re successful and growing). For this reason, it’s important to create a balanced approach to client communication that delineates between situations in which a human touch is needed and those in which automated support will do. Establishing this line and sticking to it will prevent your agents from becoming overloaded and your customers from becoming frustrated with long wait times and inefficient processes. Here, learn when an automated approach is sufficient and when a human connection is best.

When an Automated Approach Works

 

Depending on the nature of your business, there are likely numerous issues and processes that a customer can resolve or complete on their own without ever speaking to anyone at the company. This can be achieved by simply looking something up on your website, using a self-service support portal, logging into their account through your website, using an interactive IVR that can complete tasks, or another method. In other words, an automated approach is any in which customers do not need to speak with a person to come to a resolution.

There are a number of situations in which an automated approach is sufficient. If a customer needs to update their personal information, pay a bill, access services that they are already paying for, or schedule an appointment or a service call, these are all tasks that can be done without the personal touch of a live agent on the other line. In general, when a task involves just one or a few steps to complete and the customer knows what those steps are, the task can be handled with an automated system. This, in turn, frees up your agents for the more complex inquiries that will require their time.

When a Human Approach is Needed

 

If an automated approach is sufficient when customers know what they want to accomplish and how to do so, a human connection is needed when they don’t—or they know what they want to accomplish but don’t know or don’t have the capability to carry it out. If a customer is experiencing a problem with their product or service that requires troubleshooting they don’t have the skills to do themselves, they want to change their services or plan or they have questions or concerns about the products to which they can’t find answers anywhere, connecting with a live person (often over the phone) is going to be the best approach.

In these cases, a human approach will not only help the customers get answers the fastest but it also has the highest chance of assuaging frustrations and complaints. Indeed, many of the situations that require a human approach (though not all of them) are ones that have caused the customer some strife and the connection and empathy of a live agent can go far towards tempering these negative emotions and maintaining a hopefully positive and fruitful relationship going forward.

Even though you may have all these approaches set up, there will likely be customers who call or reach out to your call center who could have solved their issue using an automated approach. To keep your agents from getting overwhelmed and disorganized, you need a high-quality call center software like CallShaper to support them. To learn more, contact us today.