Why do individuals call customer support? Is it because they need to conduct a simple function, or is it because they are looking for a solution that only a person – and not a machine – can solve?
One expert says that the latter scenario is increasingly the motivation for most customers in today’s self-service environment. Writing for Forbes, software executive Richard White explained that most customers today are savvy enough to know how to solve minor problems – as long as companies provide the right self-service tools online.
Customers today expect to be able to update their account information or change minor service terms via a company’s website. If they have to call in to customer support to accomplish these tasks, they’ll likely find the experience tedious.
Instead, clients expect to call a company for meaningful support – the types of questions or problems that cannot be handled via automation. White cited a BT Global Services report which showed 56 percent of online customers only call companies to solve complex issues.
“Once you remove those rote tasks, what’s left are the exceptional issues that require savvy agents to unpack and solve,” he wrote.
An outsourced answering service can be the resource businesses need to ensure that their customers can reach a real-life individual for support whenever they may call in. Absent client support can be just as unforgivable as tedious service, so it is critical that companies ensure that a call center is available to receive immediate requests at any time.
Businesses can take this concept one step further by working with a provider of online customer services, addressing the needs of consumers who seek to satisfy all support needs via a website alone.
