Have you ever felt like your customer service team was buried under emails, chats, and calls? You’re not alone. Many businesses face the same struggle. Managing inquiries while providing great service isn’t easy. That’s where a customer service ticketing system helps.

A ticketing system organizes inquiries and tracks progress. It speeds up resolutions and keeps your team efficient. It’s the core of an effective support strategy. It ensures your team stays organized and your customers stay happy. Let’s explore how it works and why it matters.

What Is a Customer Service Ticketing System?

A customer service ticketing system acts as a central hub for managing customer inquiries. Emails, chats, and calls are logged as “tickets” in the system.

Tickets are categorized, prioritized, and tracked until resolved. This structure removes the chaos of manual handling and ensures nothing is missed. A 2023 Salesforce report shows 79% of customers expect faster responses compared to five years ago. Businesses using ticketing systems can meet these demands and stay competitive.

Modern ticketing systems also incorporate advanced features like automation, analytics, and AI tools. These features enhance efficiency by automating routine tasks and providing insights that support teams can act on.

Key Benefits of Customer Support Ticketing Systems

1. Improved Organization and Efficiency
   Managing inquiries through emails or spreadsheets often causes delays or missed responses. Ticketing systems assign tickets to the right team members, reducing response times. A HubSpot study found these systems improve efficiency and cut ticket backlogs by 25%.
2. Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
   Keeping customers informed builds trust. A Zendesk report found 90% of customers value regular updates on their inquiries. Prompt resolutions and clear communication increase loyalty and satisfaction.
3. Centralized Information Management
   Ticketing systems provide a full history of customer interactions. This enables personalized responses, which McKinsey research shows can boost satisfaction by 20%. Centralized data also ensures no details are lost, even as teams grow.
4. Actionable Insights
   Analytics tools in ticketing systems drive smarter decisions. Deloitte reports 49% of companies using advanced analytics improve decision-making. These tools identify trends, track recurring issues, and improve customer support.
5. Scalability for Growing Businesses
   As businesses grow, so do customer needs. Scalable systems handle higher volumes without reducing quality. EMB Global found such systems cut response times by 30%, ensuring consistent satisfaction.

Emerging Trends in Customer Service Ticketing Systems

Customer service ticketing systems aren’t static—they’re evolving to meet the changing needs of businesses and customers. Here are some of the latest trends reshaping the landscape:

AI and Automation

AI is transforming ticketing systems with automated routing, predictive analytics, and chatbots. These tools cut response times, improve accuracy, and detect customer sentiment to address critical issues quickly.

Omnichannel Integration

Customers now expect seamless communication across email, chat, social media, and phone. Modern ticketing systems unify these channels, enabling consistent and smooth customer experiences.

Self-Service Options

Self-service portals and knowledge bases let customers solve common issues on their own. This reduces ticket volume and helps support teams focus on complex cases.

Staying ahead of these trends ensures that your ticketing system remains a valuable asset in delivering exceptional customer support.

How to Choose the Right Customer Service Ticketing Software

Selecting the right ticketing software is crucial. Here are some factors to consider:

• Ease of Use: Choose a system with an intuitive interface that requires minimal training.
• Automation Features: Automate repetitive tasks like ticket assignments and follow-ups to save time.
• Integration Capabilities: Ensure compatibility with existing tools like CRMs and email platforms.
• Customization Options: The software should allow you to tailor workflows to your specific needs.
• Security Measures: Protecting customer data should be a top priority.

How to Measure the Success of a Ticketing System

Implementing a ticketing system is one thing, but knowing whether it’s working effectively is another. Here’s how you can measure its success:

1. Response Times: Track how quickly your team is responding to tickets. Faster response times generally lead to higher customer satisfaction.
2. First-Contact Resolution Rate: This measures the percentage of tickets resolved in a single interaction. A high rate indicates efficiency and expertise.
3. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores: Use post-interaction surveys to gauge how happy your customers are with the support they received.
4. Ticket Volume Trends: Monitor whether the number of incoming tickets is manageable or overwhelming. Analyzing trends can help you allocate resources more effectively.
5. Agent Performance: Measure metrics like resolution times, ticket handling efficiency, and feedback for individual agents to identify training opportunities.

Regularly reviewing these metrics will help you fine-tune your system and ensure it’s delivering the desired results. Use the calculator below to check your FCR rate.

The Human Element in Customer Service Ticketing

While automation and technology are essential, the human element in customer service is irreplaceable. A ticketing system is only as good as the people using it. Here’s why:

• Empathy Matters: Customers value being heard and understood. While a ticketing system can organize issues, it’s the human touch that builds trust and loyalty.
• Personalized Support: Agents equipped with the full history of customer interactions can offer tailored solutions. This level of personalization is something technology alone can’t achieve.
• Problem-Solving Skills: Technology can route tickets, but it’s the agents who analyze complex problems and provide creative solutions.
• Building Relationships: Long-term customer relationships are built through meaningful interactions. Even the most advanced system can’t replicate the rapport a skilled agent can create.

Your ticketing system should complement your team, not replace it. By blending technology with a strong human touch, you can deliver the best possible customer experience.

Why LiveHelpNow Stands Out

LiveHelpNow’s customer service ticketing system is designed to simplify support processes while delivering exceptional results. Here’s what makes it unique:

• Omnichannel Support: Manage inquiries from email, chat, social media, and phone in one centralized platform.
• Real-Time Ticket Tracking: Monitor the status of tickets at every stage of the resolution process.
• Intelligent Automation: Automate ticket routing and responses to common inquiries, saving your team valuable time.
• Collaboration Features: Enable seamless communication between team members within the platform.
• Detailed Analytics: Gain insights into team performance, customer trends, and areas for improvement.

Real-World Success Stories

A behavioral health education provider transformed its operations using LiveHelpNow to manage growing digital communications. By implementing the system, they organized customer inquiries, reducing delays caused by misplaced emails or repeated interactions with different agents. The tools streamlined their processes, making it possible to handle increased demand efficiently, especially during a surge in online class enrollments.

Similarly, a global trading platform addressed language barriers by leveraging LiveHelpNow’s multi-language knowledge base feature. This allowed them to create help centers in nine different languages, ensuring customers worldwide could access the information they needed without language limitations. Agents also used canned responses and analytics to boost efficiency, achieving measurable performance improvements month over month.

Trending Now

Nearly 48% of customer service software solutions are purchased through IT service providers. With global IT spending projected to reach $1,520 billion in 2024, growing at 8.6% annually. This highlights the rising demand for effective help desk tools. LiveHelpNow positions itself as a competitive solution. Offering scalable and advanced features tailored to meet the needs of this expanding market.

The Future of Customer Service Ticketing Systems

As customer expectations evolve, so do the capabilities of ticketing systems. Advanced features like AI-driven analytics, sentiment analysis, and automated workflows are becoming standard. These tools not only improve efficiency but also enable a more personalized customer experience.

For instance, predictive analytics can identify potential issues before they escalate, while sentiment analysis helps teams address customer emotions effectively. According to PwC’s 2023 report, 67% of customers now expect AI to play a role in their interactions with businesses. Meeting these expectations is essential for staying ahead in today’s competitive landscape.

Preparing Your Business for Success

Implementing a customer service ticketing system isn’t just about improving efficiency—it’s about building a support strategy that aligns with modern customer expectations. Whether you’re managing a small team or an enterprise-level operation, the right software can make all the difference.

LiveHelpNow’s ticketing system offers the tools you need to stay organized, responsive, and customer-focused. From multi-channel support to actionable analytics, it’s a solution that adapts to your business’s unique needs.

Ready to Elevate Your Customer Support?

A customer service ticketing system is more than a tool—it’s a cornerstone of excellent support. By investing in a solution like LiveHelpNow, you’re setting your business up for long-term success.

Explore how LiveHelpNow can simplify your support operations. Schedule a demo today and discover the benefits for yourself.

The post Simplify Support with Customer Service Ticketing Systems appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

Or, better yet, your customers. According to HubSpot research, 33% are most frustrated by having to repeat themselves to multiple support reps. 

That is why First Call Resolution, FCR rates, are amongst the top most important key performance indicators when it comes to measuring the success of a contact center. FCR rates directly reflect a team’s capability to solve problems, answer questions, and provide needs the very first time a customer calls. Low FCR rates might lead to lower customer satisfaction, customer churn, and loss of customer loyalty. All that, in turn, can lead to decrease in revenues as the result. 

What is First Call Resolution? (FCR)

First Call Resolution (FCR) is a customer service metric that measures a contact center’s ability to resolve customer issues or inquiries during their first interaction, without the need for follow-ups or escalations.

Why FCR Matters:

1. Improves Customer Satisfaction: Quick solutions make customers happier.
2. Boosts Efficiency: Fewer repeat contacts save time and resources.
3. Reduces Costs: Resolving issues upfront lowers operational expenses.

First Call Resolution is a vital indicator of how effectively a support team meets customer needs and ensures a smooth service experience.

Before we examine ways to improve low First Call Resolution scores, it’s important to seek the root of the problem and discover the reasons for low rates. 

Reason 1: The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. 

To ensure smooth operations agents must be able to track and view the history of all customer communications. If the customers have to reiterate their issues multiple times, recalling all the details of their previous connections with a company they will get frustrated. Not only that, but the time an agent spends with the customer recalling all the history instead of solving the current issue is the time wasted. It costs the company money in addition to lowering customer satisfaction scores. 

n a successful customer service organization only one agent is necessary to answer a customer’s inquiry. If an agent resolves the problem on the first customer contact both the company and the customers are saving time and money.

To ensure that all agents have access to all customer information, there are a few tactics to implement.

• Invest in an efficient live chat software that has intelligent features like real-time visitor monitoring and pre-chat surveys.
• Implement CRM software which will allow your staff to better organize, track and access customer data.
• Ensure that your FAQs and knowledge base are regularly updated.
• Establish a solid omnichannel system of communication.

“Document what Bain and Company calls, “Episode Management”, a map of customer-facing and back office processes that impact the customer experience to help boost FCR rates.” (Tom Huberty, Huberty Performance Learning, LLC)

Reason 2: Training is lacking. 

Even in a contact center with the best tools, agents must know how to handle situations properly or all will be lost. If an agent continuously transfers customers to other agents when encountering an unfamiliar issue, the initial answering agent learns nothing. It’s essential, therefore, to provide training. 

The solution to low FCR rates is to ensure all agents undergo intense training and are qualified to handle all fundamental customer concerns.  Training is the key to unlock every agent’s potential. When contact centers fail to invest in their people’s capabilities, the effect manifests itself as terrible customer service.  (Jerry Han, Chief Marketing Executive, PrizeRebel)

Training agents should consist of, naturally, reviewing company’s policies, guides, and handbooks. Even seasoned agents can benefit from continuous professional development through ebooks, webinars, and similar materials. Continuous training, in addition to improving agents’ skills, keeps them motivated and prevents agent burn out. 

Working to resolve common customer service problems as part of the training is a good strategy. Even better one is to ensure agents work behind the scenes with other agents and supervisors when they encounter something they have not resolved before instead of transferring customers. That will insure future understanding of similar situations and increase the overall FCR rates. 

Reason 3: Agents lose motivation. 

Agent motivation plays an important role in overall performance  and the bottom line for the company. High turnover and unmotivated agents cost contact centers a lot of money. According to one report,  the cost of replacing a frontline employee is about 20% of a full annual salary. For a contact center of about 50 employees this could translate to more than $100,000 yearly in turnover costs. (CRM Gamified) Lack of motivation also affects FCR rates. 

Employees must be motivated to increase their performance so that it has an impact on first call resolution. To do this you must first make them aware of your goals related to FCR, allow them to track their own performance, give them feedback, recognition and rewards tied to their performance and ensure that the entire team recognizes a good performance (using peer recognition and rewards systems). Increasing agent’s motivation to improve their performance will have a significant impact on FCR. (TalkDesk)

There are various ways to motivate contact center employees. We recently covered the topic extensively in our comprehensive article: How to Motivate Contact Center Agents: Lessons From Kindergarten (it’s one fun read, if we say so ourselves). 

Bottom Line for FCR Rates

FCR rates play an essential role in a contact center performance and overall customer satisfaction. If the rates are low, it’s important to find the cause and fix the underlying problems. Then contact center managers can move on to implementing more specific strategies to increase FCR rates further. 

The post Top 3 Reasons Your First Call Resolution (FCR) Rates are Down appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

First call resolution (FCR) is one of the most important customer-service metrics. Especially so for businesses handling a substantial number of customer-service inquiries. It’s a good indication of how efficiently a service team is providing support. It also serves as a predictor of customer satisfaction, brand reputation, and operational efficiency. It can ultimately affect a company’s bottom line. 

If you aren’t tracking your FCR, you should be. In this article, we talk about what First Call Resolution is, why it’s important, and how to improve it. 

What Is First Call Resolution?

First Call Resolution (FCR) is a measurement used by call centers and other service centers to determine what percentage of customer queries are resolved on the customer’s first interaction. This measurement is mostly applied to phone calls, but it can be calculated using any service channel or support experience. Of all call-center metrics, FCR is one of the most important, as it indicates overall call-center performance. 

As applied to other contact channels – social media, chatbots, live chat, and other service channels – the term “first contact resolution” is used. This metric is important because it directly correlates with customer satisfaction. The quicker a support agent can provide a resolution, the happier the customer tends to be. Delayed resolution affects customer satisfaction. As a quick resolution becomes a hallmark of a business, brand loyalty also increases.

How to Calculate First Call Resolution

The First Call Resolution formula starts by tracking the total call volume your customer service team receives in a given time period. Depending on the business, you can also track texts, emails, social media messages, chats, and any other method your business uses to communicate with customers.

Next, keep track of how frequently problems get solved on the first attempt, as opposed to calls that require additional assistance or repeated calls. You can then calculate your business’ FCR score by dividing the second number by the first. 

Here is an example of the FCR formula at work. Let’s assume you receive 1,000 calls from customers in any given month. If 200 of those calls are resolved without the need for any additional calls or support, then your FCR ratio is 200/1000, i.e., 20 percent. Depending on your contact center’s ability, these numbers could be higher or lower. 

Improving First Call Resolution

The first step in improving first call resolution is identifying common issues that require multiple contacts throughout the resolution journey. As you examine your contacts, you’ll probably start to notice patterns or customer issues that require multiple contacts to resolve. 

The next step is to uncover processes within your customer service that are causing these multiple contacts before a resolution can happen. For example, if multiple departments are involved in a common customer problem, consider consolidating that resolution process. When a customer is required to contact multiple people or departments, the likelihood of a quick resolution decreases.

Implementing Strategies to Improve FCR

Enhance Agent Training and Knowledge

When agents aren’t properly trained or lack product/service knowledge, FCR becomes extremely difficult. Such representatives may escalate many of their calls to superiors because they don’t know how to resolve the issue. Better customer service training and resources for support agents will increase FCR.

Streamline Contact-Handling Procedures

Try to reduce the number of steps needed to handle common repeat requests. If your current contact-handling procedures involve repetitive tasks, automate them whenever possible. Reduce the burden on your support team by creating templates they can follow for the most common customer issues. 

Empower Agents to Make Decisions

After a while, customer service agents can become very knowledgeable about how to best help their customers. Empower them to be able to make decisions that will please customers without having to constantly get approval or follow antiquated guidelines that may not be changing with the needs of your business.  

Implement Self-service Options

If possible, let customers help themselves through self-service options such as a portal, online knowledge base, FAQ page, or community discussion board. Knowledge-base articles are simple to create and post online, making them a popular option for most businesses. A customer’s first contact with a self-service option is often enough to resolve most issues. If they have more complex issues or can’t find a solution themselves, they can contact support.

Training Agents on First Call Resolution

Agent training is one of the most important factors to consider when trying to improve your First Call Resolution rates. A well-trained agent can navigate complex issues and make the customer feel valued. Train agents to have a deep knowledge and understanding of what your business offers. Only then can they share that knowledge with customers.

Don’t forget to teach your customer service agents effective communication, listening, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. These soft skills are the difference between a poor customer service representative and a great one. Some people are more naturally gifted in these areas, but everyone can develop these talents with effort and practice. 

Promote a customer-first mindset within your company. Developing an empathetic approach to customers and having a positive mindset will make your FCR rating grow. Don’t forget to offer periodic training sessions to your support agents. Everyone can benefit from a reminder to focus on FCR goals.

Tools and Technologies to Improve First Call Resolution

FCR isn’t all about customer service agents. Leveraging technology is a great way to improve First Call Resolution. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

If you aren’t using a CRM system, consider implementing one. This type of software makes it easy to keep track of customer interactions. You’ll be able to see service history, talk time, contact reason, and a history of email support, including any follow-up emails. It is much harder for customers to fall through the cracks when using a CRM system. 

A CRM system can also track total resolved cases, agent performance, agent productivity, call colume, and average handle time. It will expose excessive wait times and provide quality monitoring. These essential metrics and insights can help raise FCR rates.

Knowledge Bases and Self-service Portals

Create a robust knowledge base and customer self-service portal so that customers can solve their problems without having to contact support. It may seem counterintuitive, but customers would rather solve their own problems than call in to support.

Call Analytics and Reporting Tools

Use contact analytics and reporting tools to get a bigger picture of what’s going on within the business from a customer service perspective. Some tools will automatically calculate FCR and other measures of customer service success to make keeping track even easier. 

Automatic Call Distributors and Intelligent Routing 

Whether it’s calls, texts, chats, or other messages, routing customers to available agents is essential. Using automatic call distributors and intelligent call routing makes this a simple process and allows agents to engage customers in the shortest time possible. Include callback options in whatever system you use to increase the options available to customers.

Almost 90% of customers expect their issue to be resolved in a single call, which is why ‘First Call Resolution’ is one of the most critical metrics within the #ContactCenter.

Learn how automatic call distribution helps organizations make that happen: https://t.co/rK0JQTaAQ5

— Nextiva (@Nextiva) May 23, 2022

Best Practices for Achieving High FCR

Whatever your current FCR is, it can always be improved. Try some of these best practices and find out which ones work best for your business.

Set Clear Goals for FCR

In order to change and improve, you first need to measure. Find out what your FCR is currently and set a goal to improve it. A realistic goal for your business will depend on how complicated your product or service is. Be careful not to set unrealistic FCR expectations. A better approach may be to set a goal for improvement. For example, whatever your current FCR is, set a goal to improve by 5 percent. Clarify any conflicting priorities and conflicting performance goals.

Monitor and Measure FCR Regularly

Don’t take your eye off the ball when it comes to FCR. Monitor it regularly to ensure that more resolutions occur during that first contact. Don’t forget what a high FCR means: happier customers, better reviews, and a lower overall customer service cost, to name a few. 

Collect Customer Feedback to Identify Areas for Improvement

Dissatisfied customers will always let you know where you fall short. Don’t shy away from asking for feedback, and don’t forget to act on it. Collect post-call surveys or conduct other methods of feedback collection. Making improvements to your customer service will contribute to an improvement in FCR. 

Recognize and Reward Agents Who Consistently Achieve High FCR

An agent that can consistently achieve a high FCR is an asset to your business. Foster this positive achievement in all your agents by recognizing their achievements. Consider offering rewards or incentives to agents that achieve a high FCR. It could be something small like an extra break or a gift card. It could also be something more significant if measured over a longer time period. 

First Call Resolution: Key to Customer Satisfaction 

First call resolution is an important metric to track and improve because it directly correlates to a customer’s satisfaction. Happy customers are the lifeblood of a business. If you haven’t been tracking FCR, now’s the perfect time to start. Train your agents, leverage technology, and implement best practices for improving FCR. This will lead to better service, happier customers, and increased revenues. 

The post First Call Resolution: What It Is and How to Improve It appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

When employees love their jobs, their work performance and engagement is better. With more effort comes higher efficiency, better results, and with that more satisfactory customer experience. 

It is, therefore, essential for leaders to ensure employee engagement in order to create a satisfactory customer experience. 

The way employees are treated has a direct impact on how customers are treated. If the internal culture of a company fosters empathy and emotional engagement, it will have a similar positive impact on the customer’s experience.

— Shep Hyken (@Hyken) June 6, 2019

Happy employees are important for any business to succeed. 

Unhappy employees are bad for business. 

Customer service representatives deal with customers directly. The happiness of these agents will determine the degree of satisfaction for the customers. 

This is a cry for help posted on Reddit by a very unhappy customer service representative. 

Unfortunately, while many unhappy employees do not always openly voice their dissatisfaction, this can be a common attitude among customer service representatives.

Currently, less than two-thirds of customer agents are happy in their roles and more than a third don’t intend to stay in their jobs, according to a national study done in March 2017. The study polled 500 active service reps and was conducted by Aspect Software in partnership with Conversion Research.

How would an employer know how happy the customer service agents are?

There are two ways of finding out:

• Conducting an agent satisfaction survey, asking the employees how they feel about their jobs. 
• Evaluating agent performances – after all, happy agents will have better work results

Once the management learns how happy (or unhappy) the agents are, it can employ various strategies to improve the scores.

So here are six ways to make customer service agents happier.

1. Establishing Strong Company Culture

   
   

Companies with strong culture have less staff turnover than those who don’t. Weaker culture companies have a turnover rate of 48.4%. Companies with strong culture have a turnover rate of 13.9%. 

Company management must play an active role in culture building to ensure a consistent, healthy, and positive company culture.

There are six steps to developing company culture; implementing and reinforcing them can really improve the morale, bring more unity and positivity, and increase efficiency in an organization.

• Define purpose
• Define common language and values
• Establish effective leadership
• Implement engaging team building
• Communicate
• Treat agents with respect

Successful companies use these culture-building strategies throughout their operations. Examples of companies who really focus on company culture include Disney, Pepsi, and Google. 

Employees of these companies and others that actively work on building a strong culture report higher satisfaction rates and, therefore, better business practices.

2. Encouraging growth

Humans need to grow. Growth is life.

Growth in the workplace is essential. Without it employees will lose their motivation, becoming stagnant and dissatisfied. Employers can encourage growth by implementing growth opportunities for customer service agents.

Agents will be more inspired, driven, and motivated if they have a chance to grow in four ways:

• Financially – the possibility of higher income motivates other growth 
• Professionally – mutually beneficial, gaining new skills increases motivation
• Career-wise – moving up the organizational ladder is both prestigious and inspiring
• Personally – personal goals as important as professional

There are various ways in which employers can promote growth in all four areas. Doing so will be beneficial for the entire company. 

In the TED talk below Tamekia MizLadi Smith addresses the truly human aspects of professional development – compassion, empathy, and personal connections. She talks about the importance of training and how encouraging and helping agents to understand the “why” of their actions makes them better at their jobs.

3. Communication: Feedback and Recognition

Imagine working at a job day in and day out and wondering if your work even matters. 

Well, most of us do not need to imagine. Unfortunately, this is often a reality of our workplaces.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t change. 

Communicating, recognizing, and giving constructive feedback can build bridges between the agents and the management. These practices can also serve as staircases to employee job satisfaction. 

Knowing our work matters and is meaningful is important for motivation. And when recognized for what we do we will strive to do even better. 

One way of recognizing success is setting goals for agents. Measurable goals can improve company culture and decrease agent turnover in a customer service call center. 

Some metrics for goal-setting are:

In the video below Glenn Rolfsen discusses a simple strategy to improve communication in an unhealthy work environment.

4. Provide Necessary Tools

No matter how talented your customer service team is, you must give your agents the right tools.

While your software arsenal can vary depending on the type of business you run, some tools are universally helpful.

Live chat apps can help provide better customer service by improving response times and even help build trust. Providing customers the option to text your business further improves customer service.

75% of consumers say it’s absolutely critical or very important to interact with a salesperson who is available when they need them. This is where live chat apps can offer an online presence for consumers, even 24 hours a day if needed.

With more consumers shopping online than ever before, companies must keep pace by providing a mobile-friendly option for customer service.

The best live chat apps provide a streamlined mobile customer service solution that can correspond with customers in a simple text message.

Other useful customer service tools include ticket management systems, FAQ knowledge base, and good old fashioned agent training through handbooks and other materials. 

As we discussed above, professional development is important and with the continuous technological advances agents will need learning support throughout their career.  

While technology is extremely helpful when it comes to customer service, one thing is even more crucial – human customer relations.

As a live chat development company, we deal with a large volume of digital communication. The one question we get a lot is “are you a real human?” 

Whether customer communications take place over the phone or via chat or email, humans want to talk to other humans. 

It is, therefore, essential to personalize your customer service communications, add humanity, empathy, and that special human touch every customer craves. 

In the video below Blake Morgan, a customer experience futurist, talks about the importance of personal communication in a call center and how it is still relevant in the digital era. 

5. Provide Positive Physical Environment

According to a 2011 research study on how workplace design contributes to mental health and well-being, the average person spends 33 percent of their waking time in their workplace on a weekly basis. 

Physical workplace environment has a major impact on everything from happiness and mood to productivity and focus. The study concludes that “good working conditions enable employees to work effectively” and that “investments in the physical workplace that create those conditions pay back quickly.”

 According to designer and author Ingrid Fetell Lee there are four ways to create positive physical work environment:

• Adding color
• Bringing in the light
• Embracing nature
• Adding transcendence

Fetell goes into detail about the importance of the above elements in the workplace in the video below:

6. Add Value to Work

We talked about the importance of meaningful work above, but it’s important to note that adding value to every task is crucial.

Modern generation of employees wants valuable tasks at work more than ever. In fact, 74% of millennials want a job where their work feels meaningful.

Agents want to know why they are doing what they are doing, what the purpose of each task is, and what difference it makes for the customer and the company as a whole. 

Here are some ways to add value to a customer service agent’s work:

• Show how work makes a difference: stories of happy customers, resulting in additional business, positive reviews
• Pay personalized attention to an agent’s work. Offer specific feedback and recognition. 
• Trust in an agent’s abilities by allowing personal troubleshooting and project initiative. Let the customer support agents come up with their own strategies for customer service growth and improvement. Do not micromanage. 
• Create new opportunities. Doing the same work the same way might become mundane. Allow room for advancement and improvement. Growth is essential for happiness. 

Daniel Rodic discusses adding value to work and business in the below:

Conclusion

Creating a positive environment for customer service representatives makes their work-life better. It makes the overall company environment better and, in turn, improves customer experience.

The post Six Ways to Make Your Customer Service Agents Love Their Jobs appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

These are values Carolina Biological Supply Company holds close to its heart. It instills these principles into everything it does, from staff training to its products and services. And most of all, of course, when it comes to its customer support. 

And so, following a number of years of successful experiences with LiveHelpNow live chat service, Carolina Biological added another tool to its customer support arsenal. To help “get control of growing email volume” the company implemented the ticket management feature. 

“Email management is one of the most important pieces of software we purchased in Customer Service in my eight years with Carolina Biological,” says the Director of Customer Service, Stephen Kidder. “We implemented email management right before the Covid restrictions, and it could not have come at a better time. Customers began to use email as a major medium of communication with us. We saw our email volume grow exponentially, and it has not let up.”

With increasing digital communications across many industries, many companies can relate to the challenges Carolina Biological faced. After all, digital communication, including email, has shown a significant increase since the beginning of the pandemic. 

LiveHelpNow’s ticket management feature helped Carolina Biological organize and keep its email communications under control. Let’s see how this tool can successfully improve email communications for any company, big or small. 

Carolina Biological Supply Company: Science Education Supply Solutions

The challenges of increasing email communications might be new to Carolina Biological, but the company has seen it all during its 90-plus years – yes, 90-plus! – years of history in the business. Based in North Carolina, the company has been providing science educators and professionals with various scientific supplies for decades. 

Carolina stays in tune with the needs of science educators.  The product line is broad and deep.  The company specializes in serving the needs of science educators and students at all levels, from kindergarten to postgraduate studies.  Through it all, Carolina’s number one goal is world-class customer service.  

The company employs over 450 people, many of whom are former educators. The staff understands the unique challenges teachers face in the classroom and laboratory. The company often collaborates with teachers and institutions to create new educational products. 

With a large customer base, a large and increasing variety of products, and thousands of customers with various needs, Carolina Biological faces many challenges when it comes to customer communications. As Kidder mentioned, the pandemic increased the customer email volume, increasing the need for expanded customer support. Additionally, the pandemic changed the format of their customer support as the department now operates approximately 85% of its staff remotely.  Once again, LiveHelpNow tools came in handy during the challenging times. 

“Teachers moving to remote learning had a major change on how they chose to communicate with us. We needed email management to help us handle the increase in email communications,” Kidder says. 

Ticket Management Solution Helped Organize Email Communications

According to Kidder, the ticket management solution helped the company in one major way – organization. 

Here is how our intelligent email and ticket management inbox works. 

Intelligent Inbox

First, with the ticket management system, users have the option of creating a unified inbox.

• Customer emails turn into trackable tickets that include attached files. 
• All conversations are threaded – even those that take place through live chat, SMS, or social media messages – meaning they stay together.
• Customers can receive automated ticket status notifications that include company messaging.
• Ticket triggers can help manage support workflows manually or automatically. 
• Customizable rules and conditions pull all customer emails into one convenient dashboard.
• Email-to-ticket integration can combine web form input, ticket communications, and emails into one omnichannel stream. 
• Adding a company logo and messaging can help support branding.

“LiveHelpNow helped us organize and structure our emails, using various rules and conditions,” Kidder says. “[The solution] has allowed us to properly categorize and prioritize emails, automatically reroute emails to appropriate departments, and auto-close emails where no action is required. This has been saving us countless hours in labor costs, among other things.”

Using the solution also gave the customer support team the confidence that they were providing the best service possible.

“Since implementing email management, email processing is more efficient, resulting in reduced turnaround response times and consequently, better service for our customers,” Kidder says. “My group has done a nice job effectively utilizing the organizational features/functions and reporting capabilities LiveHelpNow has to offer.  The reporting features within LiveHelpNow give me a much more detailed look at what is coming in, when it is coming in, and how long it has been open.”  

As Kidder reports, LiveHelpNow ticket management features can help with the organization of email communication. But they offer much more than that. 

Here are some of the specific features that came in handy for Carolina Biological supply. 

Tagging Feature of Ticket Management 

With increasing email and other digital communications, companies might become overwhelmed. One solution to this common pain point is our manual and automatic tagging feature. 

While each customer interaction has its own details, many conversations relate to issues that customer service agents handle often. These could be questions about pricing, upgrades, technical, or other common inquiries.  Tagging provides valuable insights into the client base. It also categorizes communications and organizes them into manageable segments. Multiple inquiries about a specific feature customers would like to see can spark the initiative to develop such a feature or product. Chronic customer complaints about a specific issue can help come up with a solution. Tagging can help keep track of all such inquiries. 

Automatic tagging can tag interactions based on the language used within the communications. Additionally, agents can use up to five tags for cross-reference. 

“Utilizing the tagging features, we can identify the reason why customers email and chat with us,” Kidder says. “We use this data to adjust our customer service operations. For example, frequent reasons for contact led us to implement self-service options to handle several common contact reasons.”

Keyword Search Ability and Auto-Close Features

Beyond tagging, the ticket management tool provides the ability to search customer communications based on specific keywords. This feature not only helped Carolina Biological to better serve its customers but also saved the company time and money. 

Kidder explains that the company receives hundreds of automated emails from various vendors. The majority of these communications require no further actions on Carolina Biological’s part. However, in instances when the company must contact a customer about an order, these automated communications are very useful.

“Because these emails are in the same format, we look for keywords and can auto-close the majority of emails in which we do not need to contact customers,” Kidder says. “This auto-close feature we developed has saved us countless hours of meaningless work and costly labor.”

Reporting as an Important Feature of Ticket Management 

You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you have been (or where you are, for that matter.) When it comes to LiveHelpNow’s ticket management solution, the reporting feature can help discover where a company’s customer service is on the map.  

For Carolina Biological, the ticket management reporting provided some data that helped assess and improve their customer service experiences. 

“We answer all customer emails within 24 hours and most emails are answered the same day,” Kidder says.” Because of the tagging feature, we have a better understanding why customers email and chat with us. And so, we have used this data to help us identify several improvements to the customer experience.  We are also able to audit agent emails/chats for quality assurance purposes.”

As a result, the quality of Carolina Biological customer service has gone up, as customers reflect their satisfaction with NPS surveys, Kidder says. With that, the customer service team gets a boost in motivation for further improvement. 

“Our agents are willing to adapt to changes in our market and learn new technologies and software applications like LiveHelpNow to better serve our customers,” Kidder says. 

Knowledge Base and Self-Service Features

Growth inspires more growth. 

As Kidder mentioned, the ticket management solution helped Carolina Biological to discover additional customer needs. One of those is the need for self-service. 

“We are now adding the Knowledge Base function for two reasons,” he said. “First, we are utilizing the LiveHelpNow Knowledge Base to help our customer service representatives find information much easier. Second, we are looking to make the customer experience better for those customers who are looking for self-service and find answers to their questions in our knowledge base library.

Of course, we have yet to leverage all the features and functions of LiveHelp but look forward to continuing to work towards adding new features to help our agents and our customers.”

The post Ticket Management Made Easy for Carolina Biological Supply appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

Even one instance of poor customer experience is enough to lose a customer. In fact, an American Express customer service study found that 33 percent of consumers would consider switching companies immediately after experiencing poor customer service.

On the other hand, a very positive customer service interaction can prevent customers from doing business elsewhere, even if they have experienced an issue of some sort. According to Salesforce, 78 percent of consumers “will forgive a company for its mistake after receiving excellent service.”

Customers want to be heard. They want to feel as if the problem they’re experiencing matters to the person with whom they’re speaking. The representatives with highly developed communication and interpersonal skills and a high level of emotional intelligence make customers feel this way. These skills don’t come naturally to everyone. But they can all be learned and developed through practice. In this article, we’ve identified seven of the most important communication skills for customer service representatives. We also offer some tips for developing them. Mastering these skills will help anyone become a more effective communicator. Lasting relationships with customers and an enhanced brand reputation will naturally follow.

1. Active Listening

More than merely listening, active listening applies focus and attention to what the customer is saying. It’s easy for a customer to tell when a customer service agent isn’t really listening to them. Simply going through the motions as if reading from a script just won’t do. Active listening, or effective listening, is also key in preventing miscommunications.

Tips on Developing Active Listening

• Focus on the customer. Don’t pull up files or work on other projects when you’re listening to him or her.
• Show interest in what the customer is saying through confirmation language such as “I see” or “I understand.” If applicable, nod and maintain eye contact during the interaction.
• Repeat back to the customer the jist of what he or she has just said to you. This demonstrates that you understand and were actively listening.
• Ask open-ended questions that allow the customer to elaborate. This shows them you’re trying to completely understand their concern or problem.
• Practice active listening with coworkers, friends, or family members. Skills take practice. After a while, active listening will become natural. Active listening skills will pay dividends in your professional and personal life. 

2. Patience 

A customer service representative has the difficult job of remaining calm and collected, especially in the face of a frustrated or confused customer. This is no easy task, especially at the end of a long day. Patience can go a long way in helping the customer come away from an interaction feeling positive.

Tips on Developing Patience

• Establish realistic expectations for your interactions. Not every customer will have a problem that can be easily solved. Nor will every customer understand what you’re communicating to them. Understand that this is all part of the process.
• Avoid taking things personally. No one wants to be yelled at or criticized, but do your best to remember that customers may be frustrated or angry due to circumstances beyond your control. It’s not your fault, even if the customer is speaking to you as if it is. 
• If you feel your patience is wearing thin, take a small break. Drink some water, stretch, or speak with a coworker to reduce your stress and frustration. 

3. Empathy

Empathy, or putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, is a difficult skill to develop. However, it’s one of the most powerful skills you can use during customer interactions. Even if you can’t fully relate to a customer, there are ways to show them you care. As more companies turn to automation for customer service, the human touch will go a long way toward creating loyal customers.

Tips on Developing Empathy

• Use phrases like “That must be very frustrating” or “I can see why you’re upset.” Empathy statements let the customer know that you’re able to see things from their perspective.
• Let the customer know you’re on their side. Confirm to them that their problem or concern warrants action on your part and that you’ll work with them to reach a resolution.
• Avoid being defensive. Customers often see the customer service rep as the person responsible for their issue, despite that rarely ever being the case. Avoid sidestepping blame or addressing fault and focus on resolving the customer’s issue.

4. Problem-Solving

The ability to quickly and effectively solve customer problems is the foundation of all problem-solving skills. The customer has come to you seeking a solution, and they expect you to provide one in a timely manner. 

Tips on Developing Problem-Solving

• Acquire a deep understanding of your products and/or services. Before you can come up with the best solution for any given situation, you need to know what the options are. Be able to respond to customer inquiries about a specific product update or general product knowledge. Have relevant details and even free resources on hand to share with customers. This will eliminate a huge amount of customer frustration.
• Come up with multiple solutions. Even if the solution the customer is asking for isn’t possible, providing several other options gives the customer the power to choose. Everyone wants to choose.
• When possible, always choose the best solution for the customer. Even if what they’re requesting is possible, if there’s a better option, advocate for it. This demonstrates your deep knowledge to your current and potential customers.

5. Clarity

When communicating with customers, it’s important to make sure that what you’re saying is exactly what you mean. This is the best way to quickly resolve a customer’s concern. This can be difficult if the product or service is technical or complicated in nature, but in such cases, clarity is even more important. 

Tips on Developing Clarity

• Avoid using technical jargon. Customers may not understand what you’re trying to convey.
• Use examples when applicable. Complicated ideas can be made simple with a good example. 
• Check for understanding. When you’ve finished explaining something, ask the customer if they’ve understood what you’ve said. 
• Be concise. Don’t give the customer unnecessary information that could cloud their understanding. 
• Ask clarifying questions. If you don’t understand what the customer is saying, there’s no way you’ll be able to provide the best solution.

6. Persuasion 

As a customer service representative, you have limited control over what solutions you’re able to offer to the customer. This means you’ll often have to rely on your persuasion skills. It’s your job to help persuade the customer that your proposed solution will work for them.

Tips on Developing Persuasion

• Build rapport between yourself and the customer. The customer will be more open to accepting your solution if you’ve developed some goodwill between yourself and the customer.
• Highlight the benefits of your solution. Make it clear to the customer how your proposed solution will benefit them, even if it’s not what the customer originally wanted.
• If possible, offer incentives or rewards to the customer. If it’s in your power, a discount or reward can be very persuasive to a customer.
• Use positive language. Discussing an alternative solution with a positive tone can help the customer accept your solution, even if it’s not what they originally wanted.

7. Adaptability

Anyone who has worked in customer service knows that interactions don’t always go according to plan. Being able to come up with the best solutions, even in difficult situations, is what adaptability is all about. 

Tips on Developing Adaptability

• Stay informed. Make sure you’re aware of any and all solutions available to customers. This information makes it much easier to adapt to unexpected situations in the future.
• Be flexible. Don’t let rigid operating procedures stifle your ability to adapt to the different needs of customers.
• Collaborate with colleagues. Others might have approaches to problems that you’ve never thought of and could incorporate yourself. 
• Provide proactive customer service. Following up after an interaction is a great way to surprise a customer and show them you’re willing to go the extra mile. This may not be applicable in every situation.
• Leverage customer feedback or survey responses to confirm your clients’ satisfaction. If you’re in a customer-facing role, use feedback to verify that you’re asking effective questions and explaining complex concepts. If you find that several customer complaints share a similar theme, adapt your approach to overcome these issues.

Customer Service Communication Skills: A Way to Customers’ Hearts

With the wide range of product and service options available to customers today, positive customer interactions and customer happiness are more important than ever. For those preparing for certifications, utilizing reliable resources like Microsoft AZ-140 practice test dumps can enhance their success. Whether you’re working in a call center talking to customers or communicating via email, text messages, live chat, or social media, investing in these seven skills can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your customer service. Positive interactions, happy customers, and customer retention will prove to you the value of communication skills. Apply these tips to strengthen your customer service communication skills or implement them as part of a customer service training program or business growth initiative.

If you’re looking for a better way to engage with your customers and deliver exceptional service to your customer base, consider using the LiveHelpNow chat service. Chatbots can improve customer engagement and reach customers who aren’t as inclined to contact you via phone. Book a free demo to see what LiveHelpNow can do for your business.

The post 7 Essential Customer Service Communication Skills appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

Haircut. Email. Customer Service.

A while ago a friend of mine went to get a haircut.

When she returned home and her hair was fully dry she realized her haircut was botched badly.

With hopes to resolve the problem, she emailed the hair salon. She explained her problem, attaching pictures of the unfortunate result.

The response she received was less than pleasant. The hair stylist refused to acknowledge any wrong, got defensive, and accused my friend of not being clear about what she wanted during her visit.

As a result my friend left a bad review for the salon, never went back, and still remembers the bad experience, years later.

This is an example of poor customer service conducted over email.

Ok. #Relatable. But do people still use email?

Yes, they do! Email has been around forever.

It is a very trusted medium throughout generations. My middle schooler has an account and so does my grandpa.

Today it still remains the top medium for communication.

There are over 250 million email users in the United States. Statistical predictions promise that it will grow even higher in the upcoming years.

With such a vast number of users, it is not surprising that even with other channels available consumers still use email as a means of communication when it comes to customer service.  

If you look at email’s penetration in business, researchers say that more than 90% of contact centers offer email. Moreover, the survey found that more than 70% of customers prefer email for communication with companies, leaving every other channel quite behind.

Why is email so popular?

There are several reasons that make this channel a good way for consumers to communicate with companies:

• Allows attaching files  – like my friend in the story above, who used email so she could add visuals of her horrible experience.
• Easily accessible – anyone anywhere can set up an account and send an email. And it’s free!
• Trusted channel – like trusting an elderly gentleman, trusting email is so much easier than, say, a Snapchat.
• Allows for detailed information about the issue – you can write and write and write. You won’t be cut off if you go over 140 characte…
• Cost effective – we mentioned it was free, right?
• Allows for customer surveys – and sometimes someone has 5 mins to waste spare and fills one out
• Provides documentation of transaction – “yes, you did say that, here is proof!”
• Adds professional touch – imagine a company without an email address…enough said.

Got it. People still do use email. So what?

Ah, I’m glad you asked. If done right customer service email communication can be a great tool to up your game. If not, it can hurt your business.

Here’s how.

When we read something we are more likely to remember it; 10 percent more likely.

Because email creates a permanent record of communication if something goes wrong a customer has an opportunity to access the email again and “relive” the bad experience.

And share it with her friends.

Years later, when her hair has long grown out from the bad haircut, she will still have the bad customer service email you sent.

The saying goes, people will not remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.

A bad customer service email will do both. Now your customers will be able to reread your email and feel terrible all over again.

Like my friend did when she told me the story.

On the other hand, if you do it right, your customer will remember the good experience and will share that with other people.

Americans tell an average of 15 people about a poor service experience, versus the 11 people they’ll tell about a good experience.

I was one of the 11 when Facebook user Kate told me the story of her late cat:

Two years ago I had a diabetic cat with cancer. He lived 3 years with his health issues and required extremely expensive medication, food, and obviously extremely high vet bills. He passed away a couple of days after a big bag of very expensive food was delivered from Amazon. I reached out to see if it would be possible to return an unopened bag of specialty food. I received an email within the same day – “We are so very sorry to learn of your loss. Please donate the food to a local animal shelter that will accept it. Your account has been credited $xxx.xx. it may take 3-5 business days to receive the credit on your account.”

This meant so much that we didn’t have to explain, didn’t have to follow up while grieving, they just did the right thing and suggested we donate to another in need – on them. Having a permanent record of the customer service experience aside, you want to do right by your customer in the moment. You want your customer to have a good experience with your company.

Statistically, 51% of customers will never do business with a company again if they have just one bad experience.

So it’s important to get it right to maintain the trust of your customers.

Oh. So we better do a good job on our email support, but how?

Awesome! Now that we know email communications are essential for good business we can talk about how to rock them.

In one of our previous blog posts we talked about five important ingredients of customer service to ensure customer satisfaction:

Whatever means of communication you use to connect with your customers, it’s important to keep these aspects of customer service in mind.

We’ve discussed ways to up your customer service game in general terms.

While some of these techniques can apply to email communications as well, but there are aspects that apply specifically to email communication.

Below are four great ways to ensure you meet as many of the above criteria of good customer service as possible.

Let’s dig in.

1. Clarity. Say what?

Ensuring clarity supports the first important ingredient of successful customer experience – the quality of communication.

Because you’re not communicating face to face or over the phone it can be easy to misunderstand what your customer means or wants.

The task of being clear lyes on both parties in a communication. But you, as a customer service professional, have more of a responsibility to understand the issue.

Make sure you understand exactly what the issue is and what the customer wants as a resolution of the problem.

Here are a few tips on how to ensure clarity:

• Ask follow up questions. Confirm and clarify anything that is not 100 percent crystal clear.
• Make sure you use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Nothing says unprofessional as much as poorly written email. Use our spelling, grammar, and typing challenge to test your skills.
• Use formatting and structure to highlight clarity
• Check all the links you include in the email to make sure they work
• Use simple language
• Proofread and review

Clear communication is essential! (in customer service as well as in all of your other relationships).

2. Speed of the response. I want it now!

Speedy responses support the accessibility component of satisfying customer experience.

Even though the customer is choosing email as the medium and knows it’s not an instant gratification situation, he or she still kind of wants a response right away.

Research shows that 41 percent of consumers expect an email response within six hours. Only 36 percent of retailers actually respond that quickly…and 14 percent never respond at all.

via GIPHY

So One way to rise above the competition? Answer quickly and in the meantime, you can play free black jack card game online to relax and refresh.

Sara McCord, an editor of the Muse online magazine, offers great tips on how to answer emails quickly in any situation.

The tips revolve around managing expectations, being honest, and delegating.

3. Personalization and empathy. We all need a friend sometime.

As any customer service expert will tell you, personalization is the key to customer service.

Personalization and empathy support the notion of customer focus, a vital part of great customer experience.

In one of our previous blog posts, we discussed how you can facilitate personalization in your live chat conversations.

Implementing it in your email communications is just as important.

According to Aberdeen personalized email messages improve click-through rates by an average of 14% and conversions by 10%.

Campaign Monitor publication says emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. And Experian states that personalized emails deliver 6 times higher transaction rates.

Like the story of the cat owner at the beginning of the article demonstrates, empathy and understanding shown through communications make the experience pleasant and memorable enough to share with others.

There are various ways to personalize your customer service emails, including:

• Using personal customers personal information
• Starting on a positive note to set the tone – Happy Wednesday! Or Top of the morning to ya!
• Using details specific to the customer and his or her situation
• Empathizing with the customer
• Using humor and light tone
• Using visuals

Because emails tend to often be written using a template or by cutting and pasting a previously written text, personalization can get lost along the way.

Make sure you add that personal touch to your emails.

And sign your name on the bottom of the email. Have fun with it as long as you keep it professional. No one remembers “customer service representative”. Someone will recall “Tim Smith, the king of customer service.”

Or something like that.

4. Problem Resolution. That’s why we are here, right?

This one is, perhaps, is the most important.

After all, that is why your client is contacting customer service – to solve a problem.

Acing problem resolution speaks to the technical competence as well as to the range of services categories of customer service evaluation.

There are various steps you can take from needing to through customer’s history to referring to a supervisor for effective problem resolution.

via GIPHY

Here are four steps Neil Kokemuller, a customer service expert offers for effective troubleshooting:

• Listening – our, in our email case – reading the inquiry very carefully.
• Acknowledging – in your response make sure you state clearly that you understand what the problem is. This also speaks to the customer focus aspect we discussed above.
• Offering alternatives to solve the problem. Get creative!
• Follow up – make sure you check on the customer in the near future to ensure satisfaction.

Knowing your products and services is also an essential skill in troubleshooting. So make sure you educate yourself.

Because you are you have more time to write an email than in a chat or phone conversation you have more opportunity to explore the solutions. Use that extra time wisely to truly dedicate yourself to problem resolution.

When it comes to customer service, writing precise and accurate emails is nothing lesser than crucial. They serve as a direct communication channel between the company and the customer. Additionally, if you’re looking to unwind, you can play free blackjack game online while exploring customer service tips.. Hiver’s infographic provides useful tips for crafting the best customer service emails.

Conclusion

So what did we learn?

Email communication is an older, but still very much used form of communication when it comes to customer service.

Clarity, Speed, Personalization, and Effective Problem Solving are four aspects you can ace for superior customer service.

How do you make your customer service emails rock?

The post 4 Email Support Tips to Up Your Customer Service Game appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

Yes, English is the world’s most influential language. But should you rely on it if you’re an international business selling to customers whose native language is one other than English?

The answer is absolutely not!. Unless you want your international sales to go downhill. 

“Why so negative?” 

Well, even those with a decent command of English still prefer to make important decisions after reading information in their native tongue. 

Here is some proof:

• 72.4 percent of consumers are likely to purchase a product from a website in their own language (Harvard Business Review)
• 86 percent of customer support call centers say they serve non-English speakers (ICMI)
• 72 percent of businesses say that providing support in a customer’s native tongue has increased their satisfaction with customer support; 58 percent reported also increased brand loyalty (ICMI)
• Only 66 percent of businesses provide customer support in a language other than English (ICMI).

These stats have four tremendously important takeaways for business owners: multilingual support is something that 

• Increases customer satisfaction
• Increases brand loyalty
• Improves sales
• Helps to gain a competitive advantage. 

What is multilingual customer support?

Multilingual customer support provides assistance to customers in multiple languages. It ensures customers receive help in their preferred language, which improves understanding and satisfaction.

Key features include:

• Language-Specific Agents: Support teams include agents fluent in different languages.
• Translation Tools: Software that translates messages to bridge language gaps quickly.
• Localized Content: FAQs, help docs, and chatbots tailored for each language.

Multilingual support helps businesses reach global audiences and enhances customer experience by reducing language barriers.

With that in mind, there are three great ways to provide multilingual support for an international eCommerce business. 

1. Use Multilingual Live Chat Platforms

The first thing that a business consultant will tell you about how to start with multilingual support is to hire fluent or native speakers of the target language. 

Of course, this would be a perfect option. But what if your company cannot afford to hire a bunch of multilingual customer support teams who speak your language and the language of the customers? 

Related Post: Translate SMS Chats and More

One good option here is to use a live chat and support platform that has a built-in auto-translation option. Software with these features translates any foreign live chat requests in real-time. That means that customer support agents can understand and respond as if they were native speakers. 

This also eliminates the need for language training, saving you money, time and resources. 

2. Invest in Localization and Translation of Your Website and App

Connecting with foreign customers will definitely become an easier task if your content is available in other languages. The vast majority of customers prefer to get information and make purchases from websites in their native tongue.

This applies to both small and giant eCommerce businesses. 

Best Buy, a retail giant, has made an early decision to translate its website into Spanish because of the growing interest of Mexico-based customers as well as U.S.-based Spanish-speaking customers. Being one of the first major American businesses that embraced multilingual customer support, Best Buy was hugely successful. 

“Latinos are giving us credit in being leaders in the e-commerce space in services to them,” this 2011 Forbes article quoted Ana Grace, the company’s global web team product manager.

And an increased brand loyalty from Spanish speakers isn’t the only benefit that Best Buy was able to get as a result. According to the Forbes article, Spanish users of the website spend twice as much time and money per visit.

Nice.

Unsurprisingly, Best Buy created the fully localized website version for Mexico in 2013. The company has been reaping the rewards of that decision since. In 2019, for example, they took first place in the online retail category at the eCommerce Awards Mexico 2019. 

The company went the whole nine yards with the translation and localization. Best Buy translated promotional messages, pricing, terms and conditions, product descriptions, error messaging, everything. 

“eCommerce giants have to translate a huge amount of material, including regular marketing messages, sales announcements, changes to policies, and other content they introduce every day,” says Adam Greene, a localization expert at PickWriters. “Achieving this goal may seem difficult for smaller businesses, but it’s something they can do easily if they pick an affordable translation service.”

Don’t Forget About the App

In addition to website localization, it’s important to make sure to translate all texts in your app as well. Another retail giant, Walmart, has an excellent Walmart México app that serves as a great example of a truly localized digital product with support in the local language.

So, be sure to invest in professional website and app translation and localization to deliver a great customer experience to your local audiences. Don’t forget to provide customer support in the target version, too.

3. Consider Outsourcing Customer Support

If there’s a time difference between the home country of the business and the targeted country, you may have to outsource customer support to locals. If you can afford this option, go for it. While you can resolve the majority of support requests and questions with custom FAQ pages and live chat, there’s still going to be some customers who need to speak to a human.

The people to whom you will entrust your multilingual customer support will have to uphold your brand’s values. Picking a highly professional team is critical.

According to hiring experts, here are the most important qualities to look for in candidates:

• Great communication skills
• A strong sense of working autonomy. The team will be working remotely, so they need to know how to provide a successful autonomous work performance
• Team-first mentality. You’re going to judge the success of your remote workers as a team, so look for candidates who have sufficient team working skills.

Your customer support will still need a working ticket management system. Make sure that your international support agents have access to the latest software (this also encourages autonomy in remote customer support teams). 

And one more thing: communicate with your remote team regularly. Autonomy doesn’t mean working in isolation. 

What are the benefits of multilingual customer support?

1. Improved Customer Satisfaction
   Customers feel valued and understood, leading to a better overall experience.
2. Expanded Market Reach
   Multilingual support opens doors to global markets and diverse customer bases.
3. Increased Trust and Loyalty
   Customers are more likely to stay loyal to brands that communicate in their language.
4. Higher Conversion Rates
   Addressing questions and concerns in a customer’s language can boost sales conversions.
5. Enhanced Brand Reputation
   Offering multilingual support demonstrates professionalism and inclusivity.
6. Reduced Miscommunication
   Clear communication minimizes errors and misunderstandings, reducing support tickets.
7. Competitive Advantage
   Multilingual support sets a brand apart, especially in industries with global competition.

Overall, it strengthens customer relationships and drives long-term business growth.

Break the Language Barrier

Yes, investing in multilingual customer support is totally worth it. English isn’t the only language out there. If you sell to people whose native languages are different than yours, consider implementing at least some of the above tips. 

Of course, these tips are just a handful of ways to provide effective multilingual support, so feel free to drop LiveHelpNow a line through the live chat to know more. 

The post Guest Post: Multilingual Customer Support [Infographic] appeared first on LiveHelpNow.

Overview of LiveHelpNow’s Reporting and Analytics Features

LiveHelpNow’s comprehensive suite of reporting and analytics tools is designed to help businesses monitor and enhance their customer support operations. Whether you are an administrator or an agent with granted permissions, you can access a range of reports and analytics that provide a deep dive into various aspects of your customer service activities.

Types of Reports and Analytics

LiveHelpNow offers several types of reports, each tailored to meet different needs:

• Departmental Reports: Provide insights into the performance of different departments, helping administrators understand how each team is performing.
• Account-Level Reports: Offer a holistic view of the entire customer support operation, showcasing overall performance metrics.
• Personal Stats: Allow agents to view their performance metrics, enabling self-assessment and efficiency improvements.

The analytics tools also offer features such as chat history, customer satisfaction scores, response times, and more, giving a detailed overview of customer interactions and agent performance.

Using Analytics to Monitor Performance

One of the key benefits of LiveHelpNow’s analytics tools is the ability to monitor performance in real time. Administrators and agents can track key metrics, such as response times, number of chats handled, customer satisfaction scores, and more. By monitoring these metrics, teams can identify areas that need improvement and take proactive steps to enhance their performance.

Key metrics to track include:

• Response Times: Measure how quickly agents respond to customer inquiries.
• Customer Satisfaction Scores: Gauge how satisfied customers are with the support they receive.
• Number of Chats Handled: Track the volume of interactions each agent manages.

Customizing Reports

LiveHelpNow allows users to customize reports to focus on specific data points that are most relevant to their needs. The view filter options, such as “Assigned to me,” “Just Chatting,” “My Department,” and “Show All,” enable agents and administrators to tailor their reports and focus on the information that matters most.

Customizing reports helps in:

• Identifying Trends: Spot trends in customer inquiries and agent performance.
• Focusing on Key Metrics: Zero in on the most important metrics for your team’s success.
• Enhancing Decision-Making: Make informed decisions based on relevant and targeted data.

Practical Applications

Different departments can use LiveHelpNow’s analytics to improve their operations in various ways. For instance, a sales team can analyze chat transcripts to identify common customer objections and refine their sales pitch accordingly. A support team can track response times and customer satisfaction scores to ensure they are meeting service level agreements (SLAs) and providing high-quality support.

Here are a few hypothetical scenarios demonstrating the impact of data-driven decisions:

• Scenario 1: An increase in response times might indicate that agents are overwhelmed. By analyzing chat volume data, administrators can decide to hire more agents or implement chat automation to handle simple queries.
• Scenario 2: If customer satisfaction scores are dropping, a deeper dive into chat transcripts can reveal common pain points that need to be addressed.

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Despite investing heavily in data and analytics, many businesses still struggle to fully leverage these tools to future-proof their growth. Analytics Partners’ EMEA vice-president, Kevin O’Farrell, emphasizes that data-driven decision-making must become a core part of company culture rather than a mere tool for measuring performance. He outlines five key strategies: securing top-down buy-in, eliminating data silos, fostering collaboration between CFOs and CMOs, addressing the talent gap in data skills, and using storytelling to transform data into actionable insights. By adopting these strategies, companies can unlock significant growth opportunities and maximize their return on investment.

Best Practices for Data Analysis

To effectively analyze data and generate actionable insights, consider the following best practices:

• Regular Monitoring: Continuously monitor performance metrics to stay ahead of potential issues.
• Data Segmentation: Segment data by different criteria (e.g., department, agent, time period) to gain more granular insights.
• Actionable Insights: Focus on translating data into actionable insights that can drive improvements.
• Avoid Overinterpretation: Be cautious of overinterpreting data, and consider multiple data points before making decisions.

Conclusion

LiveHelpNow’s advanced reporting and analytics tools are invaluable for making data-driven decisions that enhance customer support operations. By leveraging these tools, businesses can gain deep insights into their performance, identify areas for improvement, and take proactive steps to ensure they provide exceptional customer service. Embrace the power of data to drive success and stay ahead in the competitive landscape of customer support.

Ready to unlock the full potential of your customer support and make informed, data-driven decisions? Discover LiveHelpNow’s advanced reporting and analytics features today and transform the way you monitor and improve your customer interactions. Start your Free 30-Day Trial and experience firsthand how our powerful analytics tools can elevate your business and enhance customer satisfaction.

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In this article, we’ll explore the capabilities and limitations of ChatGPT for customer service, as well as the best use cases and industries for this popular AI tool. We’ll also discuss the challenges and opportunities that ChatGPT poses for customer service ‌agents and whether they should be worried about losing their jobs.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a conversational AI-powered tool developed by OpenAI. It can generate natural and coherent responses to any text input.

The “GPT” in ChatGPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, a deep neural network model that can learn from large amounts of text data and generate new text based on the input.

In short, ChatGPT is a special type of generative AI trained on millions of websites, blog posts, research articles, social media posts, and multiple other types of digital written content.

Can businesses use ChatGPT for customer service?

ChatGPT isn’t a customer service tool by design. And it isn’t ready to interact with customers directly. However, OpenAI offers software developers an application programming interface (API). 

The API allows third-party applications to send and receive data and commands to and from ChatGPT using various programming languages, such as Python, JavaScript, or Ruby.

The best way to use ChatGPT for customer service interactions is to develop a software tool that will interact with customers. Such tools use the API to send customer queries and other data as inputs to ChatGPT so it generates a response.

Once the correct answer is generated, the API will pass it down to the third-party app, which can print it in text for the user to read or integrate a voiceover into the system to make the communication more organic.

Pros of using ChatGPT/AI for customer service

Using ChatGPT for customer support can have many benefits for both businesses and customers. It can bring new support processes that can aid user experience and improve customer engagement. And it can result in business growth through excellent customer service practices. 

#1. ChatGPT is available 24/7

ChatGPT can provide customer service around the clock without any breaks or interruptions. 

In other words, customers can get instant and consistent support whenever needed, regardless of the time zone, holiday, or weekend.

#2. Offers quick responses to customer inquiries

ChatGPT can generate responses in seconds, thanks to its powerful neural networks and natural language processing. Customers can get fast, accurate, human-like responses to questions, problems, and feedback. 

This can be of great help to customer service agents. Using this increasingly popular tool, agents can avoid answering repetitive inquiries. Instead, they can focus on providing real-time support for complex and nuanced customer inquiries. 

#3. It can understand and write in multiple languages

A key trait of ChatGPT is that it can automatically detect what language a user is writing in and provide responses in the same language. 

It can also translate knowledge base articles between languages if needed. That way, customers can get support in their preferred language without language barriers or misunderstandings.

#4. It can help summarize long conversations

ChatGPT can cut through the noise and extract key pieces of information from long text strings, condensing long and complex conversations into short and simple summaries. Some advanced tools have the ability to detect customer sentiment with sentiment analysis features. 

From a business perspective, customer service teams can create reports and get the main points and takeaways of their interactions without reading or listening to entire customer email threads.

#5. ChatGPT can increase customer service ROI

ChatGPT can reduce the costs of your business’s customer service operations by automating tasks and facilitating things like hiring and training. 

Let’s not forget that it can increase revenue by improving:

• Upselling and cross-selling opportunities
• Customer satisfaction
• Retention
• Loyalty

In short, ChatGPT is a secret weapon to improve your customer support system’s return on investment (ROI).

Challenges and limitations of using ChatGPT/AI for customer service

Despite its wide range of advantages, ChatGPT isn’t a perfect solution for customer service as it has some challenges and limitations. Let’s take a look at some of the drawbacks. 

#1. ChatGPT has a limited knowledge base

ChatGPT is only trained on the data available on the internet up to a certain date (April 2023 at the time of publication). Therefore, it may not have specific or updated information that ‌customers may need.

Additionally, ChatGPT may not be able to handle complex or technical issues that require expert knowledge or skills.

#2. Hallucinations

As a relatively new technology still undergoing development, ChatGPT may sometimes generate false or misleading information, known as hallucinations. 

Hallucinations are caused by the probabilistic nature of the language model, which may produce plausible but not factual texts. Ambiguous or incomplete inputs can also trigger hallucinations or by malicious or abusive users. Chatbot performance might improve with time and additional training through machine learning techniques. 

#3. Lack of empathy and an emotional, human touch

Since ChatGPT is a machine, it lacks empathy and that emotional, human touch when communicating with customers. 

Therefore, ChatGPT may not be able to understand customer expectations and emotions, such as anger, frustration, or sadness, and respond accordingly.

#4. Limited prompt or input length

When using ChatGPT, you can only process a certain number of words or characters at a time. For example, the limit for ChatGPT-4 is 4,096 tokens, which translates to about 8,000 words and between 16,384 to 20,480 characters. 

While this is four times higher than the previous ChatGPT-3.5 version, it may not be enough for some customer service scenarios.

#5. Risks to data security

ChatGPT may pose risks to data security, as it may store, access, or leak sensitive or personal information from ‌customers or the business. ChatGPT may also be vulnerable to hacking, tampering, or spoofing, which may compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the service. There are some concerns about customer privacy as well as the tool’s compliance with policies such as HIPAA. 

Top use cases of ChatGPT in customer service

Depending on the nature and complexity of the service, ChatGPT can be used successfully for customer service in various industries and domains, such as:

#1. General retail

ChatGPT can generate personalized responses to customer requests in the retail industry, including online shopping, e-commerce, and brick-and-mortar stores. 

It can provide customers with helpful information like product descriptions, availability, comparisons, customer reviews, and recommendations.

Take the niche process of buying used RVs, for example. AI can provide potential customers with specifications, compare models, and suggest the best features.

#2. Customer relationship management

Customer relationship management is an intricate blend of data analytics and human intuition. Advanced CRM tools have begun integrating AI solutions like ChatGPT for initial customer interactions. 

In this context, ChatGPT can help customers with account management, billing, invoices, payments, and subscriptions, as well as service updates, upgrades, feedback, and reviews.

#3. Entertainment and gaming

ChatGPT is also valuable for customer service in entertainment and gaming, such as streaming, music, movies, TV shows, or video games. It can help customers with content information, availability, ratings, and recommendations.
Additionally, integrating Circuit’s five best solutions for courier management software can streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and ensure timely deliveries, further boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

For example, imagine that a player is deep into a game of Fortnite, wearing the spooky yet cool “Fortnite Batman Who Laughs” outfit, and is all set for an exciting challenge. Just when they’re about to dive in, something goes wrong. 

That’s when ChatGPT comes to the rescue, helping the player answer questions or fix problems on the spot.

#4. Courier services

ChatGPT can handle customer service queries in the courier service industry, such as delivery, shipping, or logistics. 

It can help customers with tracking the status, location, and ETA of their packages, improving the overall customer experience.

Industries Where Human Customer Service Agents Still Outperform ChatGPT

ChatGPT may not be suitable or effective for customer service in some industries and domains, where human customer service reps still outperform ChatGPT. Some of these industries are:

#1. Healthcare services

There are complexities and nuances in healthcare that demand a human touch, making live customer support teams indispensable to address customer queries about their health and treatments. 

Companies like Henry Meds understand that, especially when it comes to medications such as tirzepatide or other critical health-related concerns, where accurate responses are even more important than customer satisfaction.

Live agents offer empathy, compassion, and a personalized connection that machines cannot yet replicate. 

Moreover, when it comes to health and treatments, the stakes are high. Misunderstandings or miscommunications can have serious consequences, making AI hallucinations potentially life-threatening. 

Live agents ensure that customers receive accurate information and guidance, reducing the risk of errors or misunderstandings.

#2. Legal services

Similar to healthcare, where stakes are high, and accountability is a necessity, ChatGPT may not be able to provide adequate customer service in legal matters. 

ChatGPT could lack the knowledge, authority, or credibility to advise, represent, or defend the customers or the logic, reasoning, or argumentation skills to handle the customers’ cases, disputes, or claims.

It may help solve user questions and doubts regarding well-established legal processes. 

For example, companies like Tailor Brands can use ChatGPT to enhance customer service in several ways related to incorporating an LLC and setting up a business bank account.

ChatGPT can assist with forms and documents, assess eligibility, and perform other simple and well-structured tasks.

#3. Luxury retail and real estate markets

ChatGPT may not be able to provide full-fledged customer service in the luxury retail and real estate markets, such as high-end fashion, jewelry, art, or property. 

For example, companies like Clean Origin can incorporate ChatGPT into their customer service strategy to provide valuable support and information about high-end products, such as diamond tennis bracelets.

However, AI cannot yet replace the service of a diamond expert who can make observations that no other is capable of. ChatGPT might not have the taste, style, or sophistication to cater to the customer base’s preferences, expectations, or demands.

This also rings true in real estate. While AI can streamline many aspects of customer service, the nuanced, relationship-driven world of real estate may always require the personalized expertise of a human agent. 

Why? A major part of the job is to foster lasting client connections and navigate the intricacies of property transactions with ’well-heeled’ CRM software for real estate who are interested in purchasing expensive properties. 

It isn’t the end for customer service live agents… yet!

ChatGPT is a revolutionary AI tool that can help build customer service chatbots that communicate in natural language, offering benefits such‌ as: 

• Summarization
• Availability
• Accuracy
• Speed

However, ChatGPT also has some challenges and limitations, such as:

• Limited input length
• Limited knowledge
• Data security risks
• Lack of empathy
• Hallucinations

While ChatGPT can be used by customer service teams in various industries and domains, such as general retail, CRM, entertainment, and courier services, it may not be suitable, effective, or even safe in other industries, such as healthcare, legal, or luxury markets.

ChatGPT still needs human supervision, intervention, and evaluation to ensure its quality, accuracy, and reliability. Therefore, until AIs like ChatGPT develop a more genuine sense of empathy and get their hallucinations in check, it isn’t the end for live customer support agents.

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