DISH Network
Messaging is part of everyday life—which means it should be part of your customer service strategy, too. People around the world are using SMS text messaging and popular apps to connect with brands as well as friends and family. Unlike traditional chat, which takes place during a timed live session, messaging is asynchronous—meaning messages can be sent back and forth at any time without losing the conversational thread.
Business messages are a true game changer. Consumers can seek support without carving out a block of time from their day. They can start a conversation on one channel or device and pick it up on another one later. Agents can manage more interactions with less pressure. And businesses can front-end every exchange with a conversational chatbot to automate simple tasks and collect context for an agent. Best of all, you can connect your existing virtual and live agents to messaging channels easily using an open channel API. We call that a win-win-win.
Messaging lets customers engage when it’s convenient, with minimal effort—giving people back their time. For example, a customer can use their phone to “park” a message on their morning commute, check back in using their laptop during lunch, and then complete the conversation on another device at home that evening—or even days later. There’s no time constraint and none of the frustration that comes with having to start over. And when it’s easier to get the information they need before making a purchase, customers are less likely to make returns.
Moving to asynchronous communication makes life easier for agents, too. They don’t have to worry about timing out when a customer gets distracted or rushing to answer a complex inquiry. Instead, they can focus on quality, accuracy, and solving the problems that really matter. Removing the pressure of trying to keep up allows contact centers to manage spikes by spreading the volume out over time instead of overstaffing. Adding intelligent automation into the equation takes the mundane and repetitive tasks of your agents’ plates, increasing job satisfaction and productivity.
With around half of customer service calls originating from a web search, messaging offers a huge opportunity to deflect calls and lower costs. Transform the way customers interact with your brand by adding the option to message directly from search results. Agents handling multiple concurrent conversations can manage higher volumes without driving up costs. AI-powered prompts and visual tools accelerate resolution even more. Plus, integrating existing chatbot services using a API extends the value of your investment.
Support costs are lower in channels that customers are comfortable using.
If you’re new to messaging, follow these guidelines to create the seamless experiences your customers expect.
Knowing which apps to use and where in your customer journeys to offer them can be challenging. Look at any customer data you have to determine where to deploy first. Are more of your customers using iOS devices or Android? Which channels or messaging platforms are they using the most? And where in key journeys are they asking for help?
For example, if more queries come through your native mobile app than your website, start by offering in-app messaging. If more users are on iOS devices, start with Apple Business Chat. It’s all about making it easier to connect. Once you’re up and running, be sure to run an awareness campaign to spread the word.
Success starts with strategy—so decide what you want to achieve. Is your goal to divert traffic from higher cost channels? Improve agent efficiency and increase volume? Bring in new traffic and boost sales? Cost savings is always top of mind, but consider other key metrics you want to move the needle on, too.
Clearly defining your goals can also help to determine the best entry points on common customer journeys. Start with the queries you can easily solve, such as FAQs or simple account inquiries. We can help guide you in the right direction if you’re struggling to identify or prioritize your goals.
Don’t just add messaging for the sake of it—create satisfying experiences and solve the problems that matter for your customers. Open every conversation with an intelligent chatbot that can predict intent, authenticate users, and collect basic information using natural language processing. Ensure seamless escalation with the full conversational context so agents can pick up right where the bot left off.
Keep text content brief, clear, and accurate, and use visual aids wherever you can—including images, videos, and interactive forms. Quick replies let users on both sides save time by tapping instead of typing. Bear in mind that every messaging platform has unique UI elements. Centralizing messaging content into a single orchestration platform allows you to re-use content across channels, increasing efficiency. [24]7.ai has the added advantage of automatically adapting content for each platform.
Synchronous chat and asynchronous messaging use many of the same technologies, but the experience is different. Mindset is key, so be sure to prepare your team for this new approach before you deploy. Update your agent console to support asynchronous communication and train agents in new skills—make sure they can multi-task, prioritize, and are familiar with the platforms you’re deploying.
Be sure to set performance goals and adjust KPIs for this new mode of communication, too. You may need to change the way you measure average handle time or look at the number of concurrent chats or resolved chats per hour instead. It’s also important to monitor performance and provide ongoing support and training. We suggest starting with minimal traffic while your team ramps up, and increasing volume once you’ve ironed out any wrinkles.
[24]7.ai Engagement Cloud delivers superior omnichannel experiences by blending AI and human intelligence to discover, predict and resolve consumer intents.
[24]7 Conversations enables you to build, test, and tune your own conversational chatbots or virtual assistants and then deploy across web, mobile apps, messaging and voice channels.
[24]7 Assist offers a unified workspace with a single console and powerful tools to empower live agents on all messaging and digital channels with blended human and artificial intelligence interactions.
[24]7 Agent Services is the leading provider of BPO solutions to global Fortune 500 clients, offering highly-skilled chat, messaging, voice, and email agents.
[24]7 Journey Analytics uses advanced path analytics to deliver insights that identify how to improve CX and optimize omnichannel customer journeys.
[24]7 Target helps brands to design and deliver personalized and targeted experiences across devices and channels through dynamic predictive messages and creatives.
Improve customer satisfaction by automating customer service. Know how to deliver a better customer experience with call automation and text to speech ivr.
