Why customer services and support is the new differentiator to determine a brand’s success

The old adage ‘Customer is king’ is taking on renewed significance today as customer-centric service emerges as the secret sauce for success for India’s new-age brands.

Gartner reports that 80 percent of companies leverage customer experience to compete with their rivals. Forrester expects customer-centric business models to yield at least 700 percent ROI over 12 years. Both customer satisfaction and retention rates – two critical factors in every business – get a boost with superior customer service, thereby resulting in customer loyalty and maximising referrals. But for brands to offer good customer service, it is essential to understand how to talk to them, reach out to them, and truly connect with them.

It’s here that partners like CM.com help make a difference. With their all-in-one customer service software Mobile Service Cloud, brands can provide a seamless customer experience anytime, anywhere by interacting with customers on their preferred channels.

Understanding Customer 2.0

Both millennial and Gen Z customers crave for a connection with their favourite brands through technology while choosing products that help them express who they are. Gen Zs are even willing to pay more for targeted products for their individual needs. During the pandemic, almost every brand noticed how customers’ service expectations changed and continued to rise.

84 percent of customers felt that being treated like a person and not a number is critical. 77 percent expected brands to fully understand their needs and expectations, and 92 percent were willing to walk away after just two or three negative interactions. As per a McKinsey study, personalisation, and the empathy and connection associated with it, became more critical than ever.

Despite these trends, customer service isn’t always top-notch. A Havas CX report mentioned that customer satisfaction has dipped for Indian brands in the CX journey. Managing costs, keeping customers happy, ensuring productivity and efficiency might feel like a delicate balancing act, but with the right solutions you're up for the job.

Scaling with Mobile Service Cloud

CM.com’s Mobile Service Cloud lets brands communicate with customers just like they would with their friends and family through their preferred channels, thereby increasing customer satisfaction. It uses a chatbot to automate conversations within an omnichannel inbox boosting efficiency and productivity. And it enables brands to personalise the entire customer journey leading to maximised ROI and conversions.

There are many features of the software, such as letting brands interact with customers via all channels in one inbox. They can manage and streamline all conversations in one easy-to-use Omnichannel Inbox. Mobile Service Cloud further enables the collaboration of internal and external teams. Employees can work together with their colleagues, other teams, and external parties such as suppliers or couriers via one Agent Inbox.

The service lets companies integrate and connect the service with systems of their choice, which will then help them deliver faster, more personal service experiences. They can also enrich customer profiles with data and insights for a more personalised experience.

Keeping customers at the heart of business

Personalisation, integrated customer service, and a customer-centric approach are key for brands, and they get a bit of each with Mobile Service Cloud.

Some key areas where Mobile Service Cloud can help:

1. Effectively engage with customers: Email and phone aren’t the only channels that customers can use to get in touch with businesses today. There is also WhatsApp Business, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messaging, Google's Business Messages, and Rich Communication Services (RCS), amongst other channels. Brands can view all conversations in one place, such as a central Agent Inbox, and address these with greater efficiency. Meanwhile, customers can obtain support via the convenience of their preferred channel.

2. Seamless customer experience: A scripted chatbot or smart automation can solve relatively straightforward queries. But there are other queries that may be more complex and call for human support. In this case, the software will seamlessly hand these queries over to a customer service representative with no drop-in service standards.

3. Stay on top of requests: For a long time, customer service revolved around issuing tickets for any customer query or complaint. But good customer service needs to be about the ability to segment, prioritise, and assign issues as they arise. CM.com’s customer service solution comes with an intuitive dashboard with an omnichannel core built to handle the most complex customer issues seamlessly.

4. Solve queries faster: To manage every customer conversation with efficiency and empathy, CM.com has a Conversational Helpdesk System – a proactive and customer-centric approach to customer service. The smart helpdesk solution provides faster resolution to customer queries and offers to handle complex issues that are hard for bots alone to handle.

5. Get access to contextual data: Service agents don’t have the time to look up all the data distributed across various systems while staying focused on the conversation. But Mobile Service Cloud helps them get instant insights about the customer in one view with a 360° customer profile.

Making CX a competitive advantage

Customer-first companies are 60 percent more profitable than companies that don’t focus on customers. Businesses need to empower their customer service to respond to the customers’ need for real-time and personal contact with them. They need to automate and personalise customer interactions. The path towards being a successful brand begins with a connection with customers, because only when you understand them, will you be able to serve them better.