Digital Customer Service

Digital customer service refers to live call center interactions that provide customers with digital tools to solve problems and provide information more effectively. These interactions can be initiated by customers or the company as a proactive outreach to customers.

In a digital customer service experience, customers interact with customer service representatives trained to assist them with their needs, questions, and concerns. During the interactions, the agent can deliver digital experiences that help meet customer needs better and faster than an audio-only engagement. The digital experiences provide a visual interface through which the customer can get the necessary information or answers. 

For example, a customer who wants to see their balance and pay a bill could be sent a digital form that verifies their identity, collects their account number, displays their balance, and offers a secure form to provide their credit card information and authorize payment. 

With the best digital customer service solutions, agents provide customer experiences by texting a short link to the caller's mobile phone. The user would be redirected to a web page featuring the digital experience by clicking the link. With these digital customer service experiences, the customer can complete the digital experience/process independently or in a live co-browsing session with the agent. 

Digital call center experiences are becoming increasingly important for companies as more customers prefer communicating through digital channels. By offering a seamless and personalized digital call center experience, companies can improve customer satisfaction, reduce customer churn, and increase customer loyalty. Digital call center experiences also enable companies to collect valuable customer feedback and insights that can be used to improve their products, services, and overall customer experience.

Learn about FICX digital customer service solutions on our webpage.

Digital customer service is a type of customer service that utilizes digital technologies and channels to provide customer support and assistance. At FICX, we focus on digital experiences offering forms and other interactivities that call center agents can send customers for self-service or co-browsing completion. 

Digital customer service offers many benefits compared to traditional call center service. First, it can accelerate resolution by making it easy for customers to get the information and answers they need more quickly and efficiently. 

Additionally, digital customer service allows for personalized and tailored support, as it can reflect customer data and preferences to provide customized solutions and recommendations. This enhances the overall customer experience and increases customer satisfaction.

Another benefit of digital customer service is that it can reduce the workload for call center representatives by simplifying how they provide answers to more straightforward queries and requests automatically. This allows representatives to focus on more complex issues requiring a human touch and expertise, resulting in faster and more efficient resolutions.

Read a post about how digital customer service and omnichannel customer service help create a better working experience for agents.

Two of the most common digital customer support technologies are conversational AI chatbots and digital self-service micro-apps. Both function across multiple channels, including websites, customer portals, social media, full-featured mobile apps, visual IVR, contact center engagements, and in-person interactions.

Automated chat applications can be useful for omnichannel customer service because they are not channel-dependent. They provide virtually effortless customer interaction. The chatbot app uses conversational AI and natural language processing to provide the desired information. There is little or no learning curve to using one. 

Micro-apps are simple applications developed to meet a single need or use case. Micro-apps can be designed for a comprehensive range of customer needs. Some examples include customer onboarding, checking one's account balance, making a payment, checking the status of an account or insurance claim, updating personal information/customer data, digital forms like insurance first notice of loss, and change of account ownership.

Chatbots have limitations and may experience difficulties handling complex or unique inquiries that require human reasoning and empathy. They may also be unable to offer personalized support at the same level as human representatives since they may be unable to comprehend individual customer preferences and requirements. Customers may also perceive chatbot interactions as impersonal or unsatisfying, especially when they cannot solve their problems. Lastly, language barriers may pose a challenge for chatbots and may cause communication difficulties or misunderstandings.

Read a post about the benefits of digital forms. 

Customer preferences can vary, but digital customer service apps have become increasingly popular in recent years. Many customers appreciate the convenience and speed of digital customer service options, allowing them to quickly access information and resolve issues quickly without waiting for a customer service agent to transcribe information and relay answers via voice.

Read how digital customer service apps transform customer relationships.

Digital customer service can help to shorten the average handle time for call centers in several ways:

With digital customer service, customers can get immediate responses to their queries or issues, often without waiting for a representative to transcribe questions and relay information via audio. This speeds up the issue resolution process and reduces the time spent on each call.

Digital customer service can track customer data and preferences, allowing customized support and recommendations. This can speed up the issue resolution process by providing customers with more relevant solutions to their problems.

Overall, digital customer service can improve the efficiency of call centers by providing faster, more personalized support to customers, which helps to shorten the average handle time for representatives. This leads to a better customer experience and increased satisfaction.

Digital customer service can help a company deliver better customer service in several ways:

Digital customer service can provide faster resolution to customer inquiries versus waiting for agents to understand and respond to requests. With digital customer service apps, the customer can input needed information quickly in a visual interface, reducing the wait times associated with traditional phone or email support.

Digital customer service options can track customer data and preferences, allowing customized support and recommendations. This can lead to higher satisfaction. Digital customer service options ensure that all customers receive the same level of support, regardless of which representative they speak with. This creates a consistent customer experience and reduces the likelihood of miscommunications or errors.

The answer to this question depends on the number of use cases you offer support for. Whether you rely on chatbots or forms-based digital applications, the more use cases you address, the greater the proportion of customer support calls you can shorten. 

As a leading provider of digital customer service applications, FICX has extensive experience in deployment for various companies worldwide. Typically, about 30% of calls for a particular use case can be shortened or deflected in year one, rising to about 80-90% by the end of year two.

Read a post about the many benefits of forms-based digital customer service.

Here are some examples of digital customer service processes that are great candidates for digital customer service:

• Update Info on File: This is a classic example of a task better addressed by having a customer input their information than having an agent transcribe audio inputs.
• Balance and Payment Info: Providing visual options via SMS link could drive higher FCR and faster AHT. Customers can click on the link in an SMS and either fill the form out themselves or co-complete the information with the help of an agent in a co-browse session.
• Make a Payment: It is challenging for many customers to complete all the necessary steps in an audio-only environment, and relaying a credit card number over audio increases security risks. With a digital customer service application, it is incredibly straightforward, and the inputs can be hashed, so they are only visible to the user. 
• Insurance First Notice of Loss: When customers make a claim, much of the requested information is at least as quickly delivered via a visual interface as over the phone with an agent.
• Apply Online: Many customers could more quickly onboard for products and services by using a visual form in a digital customer service application and revenue.
  
  
• Service Changes: Customers could more easily adjust the level of service (e.g., monthly minutes for a cellular plan) by reviewing a visual comparison and selecting in digital customer service form.

Check out our blog post on top digital use cases (agent-assisted and self-service) apps by industry.

Several key metrics should be measured when evaluating digital customer service applications:

• Average Handle Time (AHT): This metric measures the time it takes to resolve a customer's issue or inquiry. A fast resolution time is important to ensure that customers are satisfied with the support they receive and to reduce the likelihood of follow-up inquiries or complaints.
• Customer Satisfaction Rate: This metric measures customers' satisfaction with the support they receive through digital customer service channels. This can be measured through customer surveys or ratings.
• First Call Resolution Rate: This data point measures the percentage of calls that are resolved in the first call using digital customer service. This helps assess whether the digital customer service experience is robust enough to resolve the issues it is intended for. 

The team at FICX would be pleased to share a digital customer service technology demo. Just fill out this form or visit the FICX homepage.