Many companies talk about using customer automation tools to replace human agents. Yet, this doesn’t lead to a better customer service experience.
Instead, brands that successfully differentiate themselves from competitors use technology to help agents do their jobs better. Below, we go over why technology like AI can’t replace humans, how contact center automation improves efficiency for agents and best practices for using automation tools.
Why do businesses still need human agents in the era of contact center automation?
Despite all the advancements in technology, contact center automation tools like AI can’t replace humans. Why? It ultimately comes down to your customers. Nearly three-fourths of U.S. customers prefer speaking to a contact center agent about a service-related problem.
Despite everything technology can do, it doesn’t have the human touch customers crave. Your contact center agents have a critical skill that contact center automation tools lack: empathy. Ultimately, at the end of the day, while contact center tools like AI can help agents do their jobs better, they can’t replace them completely.
The brands looking to differentiate themselves from competitors aren’t using contact center automation to eliminate agents. Instead, they’re leveraging these tools to help agents provide the support experience that customers crave.
How does contact center automation improve efficiency for agents?
A successful customer service strategy doesn’t use AI to replace people. Instead, it leverages AI and other contact center automation tools to support human staff. Here are some of the ways you can use contact center automation to improve agent efficiency:
- Streamlines contact center agent onboarding
- Allows agents to deliver more accurate diagnostics and troubleshooting
- Helps improve contact center agent engagement
- Empowers agents to create tailored customer support experiences
We dive more into each of these below.
Streamlines contact center agent onboarding
The quality of your agent onboarding program makes or breaks agent success. Outdated training tools and information can hamper their ability to troubleshoot effectively, leading to low confidence and even increased turnover rates. In fact, agents that have a poor onboarding experience are twice as likely to start looking for a new job.
If your contact center becomes a revolving door, it can take a serious bite out of your company’s budget.
That’s because research shows it can cost up to twice the employee’s salary to replace them.
This is where contact center automation tools can help. Technology such as conversational AI can help coach new agents through customer interactions by surfacing relevant knowledge base articles and resources for each support ticket. This can help reduce the time required to on-ramp new hires and help agents quickly gain confidence in navigating support interactions.
Additionally, automation tools can track critical metrics, helping you evaluate and understand agent performance over time. This can help you identify areas for improvement and fill critical knowledge gaps using a tailored approach to training.
Agents can deliver more accurate diagnostics and troubleshooting
Automation tools can also empower agents to provide fast and accurate diagnostics for customers. With automation tools like AI, employees have access to answers to customer questions right at their fingertips. They don’t have to scrounge around internet forums or outdated text-based manuals for answers.
This can reduce potential friction in the customer experience, improving average handle time (AHT) and decreasing the risk of customer frustration. Additionally, as contact center agents provide fast, timely service resolution, your company could see other benefits, such as lower call volume and improved first-call resolution rates (FCR).
Additionally, providing customers with fast and accurate support is critical for improving customer retention rate. The bottom line? When you supply agents with the tools for success, it can help transform your contact center from a call hub to potential revenue driver.
Helps improve contact center agent engagement
It’s no secret that employee engagement is key to good customer experiences. Call center automation tools can help improve employee engagement by alleviating case burdens on agents, reducing the risk of burnout and agent attrition.
There are numerous ways that contact center agent engagement benefits your business. Engaged employees tend to be more productive than their disengaged peers. In fact, research shows that engaged employees are 21% more productive than their counterparts. This means your agents can serve more customers in less time.
Additionally, engaged employees play a critical role in reducing customer churn. Businesses with engaged staff see customer loyalty rates that are 233% higher than disengaged competitors.
So, how can automation tools help employee engagement? Gartner estimates that eight out of 10 customer support inquiries could be resolved with automation tools such as AI. That doesn’t mean that your agents are obsolete. However, many customer inquiries are simple, frequently asked questions. This means your agents could see a high volume of tickets in which they’re repeating themselves. High case volume can create fatigue and run the risk of burnout.
This is where your agents could benefit from using chatbots or other automation tools. AI chatbots could handle customers’ frequently asked questions, freeing your agents to focus on service requests that require human expertise. Lower ticket volume can help alleviate stress on agents, allowing them to focus their energy on helping customers with complex cases and reducing the risk of burnout.
Agents can create tailored customer support experiences
Personalized customer service is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have for any company. But how do you create tailored experiences when you serve millions of customers? Automation tools like AI can help agents provide personalized interactions at scale.
This is critical when you consider that 76% of customers are frustrated by the lack of tailored interactions with brands. Or that 96% of customers leave after one bad service experience. If your company fails to meet their expectations, customers aren’t giving you a second chance.
Again, this is where customer automation tools can help. Your agents can personalize the support experience for each customer by leveraging the data the tool provides about previous service interactions.
For example, if your customer just purchased a new Google Pixel phone, you don’t want the agent to pitch the latest Apple accessories. Instead, automation tools like AI can pull up recommendations for a new Google Pixel phone cover or other compatible device accessories. It could also help agents provide tailored tech support for each customer’s unique device or software version.
Rather than using tech to make agents obsolete, smart businesses are using automation tools to help agents deliver a tailored service approach to each customer.
How can you ensure contact center automation software sets agents up for success?
By now, you understand how critical contact center automation tools are for helping agents to do their jobs better. But how can you ensure that your automation tools set agents up for success? Here are a few best practices to consider implementing:
- Use call center automation tools to enhance agent performance, rather than replace them.
- Leverage a self-service knowledge base powered by accurate support content. AI and automation are only valuable when powered by accurate information.
- Choose a tool that offers seamless support integrations into your existing workflows.
- Ensure your knowledge base updates dynamically so that your agents can access the latest best practices and information.
The future of customer service includes people and technology
The future of customer service isn’t a binary choice between call center automation tools and people. Instead, companies looking to provide competitive customer service will leverage these tools to help human agents do their jobs better. Contact center automation tools can help agents diagnose issues more quickly, provide personalized customer experiences and be more engaged at work. This, in turn, helps your company improve the customer experience, reduce customer churn and potentially increase your bottom line.
Are you looking for more guidance on leveraging automation tools to enhance employee performance? Download our white paper to learn how Ozmo’s Answers API is built to power next-generation conversational support. Grab your copy today.
