Please hold. There are 12 callers ahead of you. Your business is important to us. This scenario is still far too common in customer support, even in the B2B (business-to-business) industry where the average customer value is higher and business relationships matter more. Sometimes waiting on hold for a half hour may be because of understaffing. But, other times it’s simply due to an inefficient customer service team.
We just released our new Knowledge Base feature in OneDesk to allow you to provide a place for your customers to search and find answers to their questions. There are many features to the Knowledge Base (and more to come) which I cover in more detail in another post. If you sign up for OneDesk today, you will already have the Knowledge Base enabled so you can jump right to that article to learn more about it.
The OneDesk Knowledge Base is a ‘customer app’ that you can add to your website widget or place directly on your website, to provide a place for your customers to find answers to their questions. It works by allowing you to create items (which we will call “KB articles”) and publish them to this app.
The steady rise of customer expectations is central to every conversation about customer service. The most successful companies are taking ongoing and proactive steps to meet those expectations, which can vary by industry and demographic, through thoughtful omnichannel support offerings, empathetic agents, and great analytics.
Collaboration starts with ease of use, as the defining experience that makes users contribute to conversations, adopt the tool, return without being forced and use the application on all devices. This is what creates collaboration - and without ease of use, the statistics that show why collaboration tools deliver better productivity than email are void.
Implementing live chat in business websites increased average order value by 14%1 and website pages views per session to 263%. 51%2 customers prefer chatbots in customer support over emails, given they are easy to communicate to. Both these statistics project a very welcoming stance for the respective channels. But which one is preferred over the other? Will live chat benefit your business the most, or will a chatbot do the trick for you?
With new tools available in the market to customers and customer service professionals alike, the relationship between both has become both easier than ever, and the most confusing it has ever been. Customers can now spend minutes (or sometimes hours!) looking for the correct channel to address their questions, while customer support agents are tracking dozens of metrics in an attempt to understand the customer better.
Many businesses are looking for new ways to improve and strengthen their own customer relationships. They’ve hired a great team of account managers, have incredibly knowledgeable support agents, and have provided them with the technology needed to succeed. However, even with a group full of all-stars, getting new employees up to that same level quickly can be a challenge as a company grows.
Most companies understand the importance of implementing omnichannel support—however, despite efforts to provide customers with a seamless experience, 85% of organizations still have fragmented channels. This is especially problematic for businesses since a cultural shift is underway, driven by millennials who have little desire to get support over the phone, instead preferring text or messaging channels.
