Customer Experience; Humans VS Technology?

Forrester Research noted, 2021 marked a major emphasis on automation so expect the pendulum to swing back toward a renewed focus on the agent touchpoint. In essence what customers are wanting to see again is the human element of customer support. How do you add the human element when the mean annual employee call center attrition rate is 30%?

We had the opportunity to speak with Matt Nelson, Solutions Engineering Manager at Nextiva, on how they are working to seamlessly integrate technology with human agents to increase and change the existing customer experience.

Threaded Communication is the core focus and goes beyond what we traditionally think of as omni-channel.  All Customer interactions: SMS text, web chat, email, phone calls are all linked together in one single view and available to integrate with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. One view with all the history of your customers experience lifecycle.

Taking it a step further, what about a system that understands sentiments in a conversation, recognizing when the customer tone is becoming frustrated and immediately elevating the call to support. Or an agent pausing to long to answer a question suggesting maybe they need more training. Bundle the means of communication with an intelligent system to recognize needs and you have a Customer Experience game changer.

Technology is a tool used to enhance the ‘people’ role when supporting your customers. Call / Contact centers and customer support is a hard job with high turnover. Implementing and utilizing a Threaded Communication experience means your agents can switch between mediums in supporting your customer. Maybe giving them a break from phone support to answer email inquiries. This keeps your agents engaged and provides an opportunity for them to support your customers in the capacity of their chosen working style.

We know technology cannot function alone and the “human element” is critical to success, so taking an approach that blends the two together, gives you an opportunity to enhance the game when it comes to customer experience and ultimately customer satisfaction. It is time to outshine your competition.

We would love to share more of what is happening in the communication industry to truly increase customer experience and satisfaction. Please reach out to learn more on the possibilities and opportunities to enhance the way you support your clients!