Customer Service

How to achieve a more empathetic customer experience through digital channels

Jeff Epstein, Comm100 VP of marketing and strategy, explains why it takes more than speed to satisfy and build loyalty with a customer. Companies that implement a strategic omnichannel solution for customer service teams are more likely to foster more empathetic customer experiences.

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April 14, 2021 by Jeff Epstein

For years, customer service departments have been in a speed race. Goals were centered around the number of customers served and how quickly these conversations were closed. It was go, go, go.

That all changed in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit and enacted an enormous shift in the way we interact with each other and with brands. Suddenly, people were facing unexpected financial and emotional strain. With an impact so universal, many retailers recognized that they needed to adjust their strategy to meet customers where they were at emotionally. Rather than focusing so directly on speed, they had to alter the customer service experience to be a more sensitive and understanding interaction.

According to Comm100's 2021 Live Chat Benchmark Report, drawn from over 60 million global customer service interactions, the total number of live chats has continued to rise, yet the average chat duration also increased by 18% in 2020.

This increase may seem unexpected — wouldn't team leads want to be encouraging shorter chats to cope with the increase in chat volume? Instead, customer service managers are shifting value away from time to resolution in favor of developing relationships with customers and ensuring they feel seen and heard. It takes more than speed to satisfy and build loyalty with a customer, and because of that, there has been a renewed prioritization of customer relationships through the pandemic.

So how can customer service and support teams show empathy in a time where digital experiences have become a person's only interaction with a brand? And how do they accomplish this without jeopardizing time spent on other customers in the queue? The truth is, companies that implement a strategic omnichannel solution for their customer service teams are more likely to foster more empathetic customer experiences. Here's how.

Empowering a more thoughtful customer experience

Customers want to feel like retailers recognize them as individuals with their own unique preferences, but oftentimes retailers struggle to deliver this level of personalization. Personalization can be a tool used to quickly honor a customer as an individual, demonstrate that the company understands their distinctive preferences, and ultimately earn their loyalty. But how does one do that without a major investment?

A robust live chat solution captures customer information across the entire customer journey. This information includes what pages they've visited, past order history, any previous chat interactions, and much more. When this information is gathered all in one place, customer service agents can approach a conversation with a customer with a wealth of knowledge and not go into it starting from scratch.

When agents have the historic, relevant information at their disposal to provide well-informed answers and recommendations, a customer can feel like they are being heard and feel like they have a true relationship with a brand. No customer wants to be forced to repeat their problem and answer the same questions again and again — all because the system isn't well connected.

It's also critical that a live chat session asks the right questions off the bat. One of the first things to learn in an interaction is what the customer's actual view of "success" is. Is it finding out when their package will arrive? Is it finding out how to return an incorrect item? Once that is clear, it allows the information already gathered to be used as a more competent guide for agents to achieve customers' relevant goals. It also prevents agents or chatbots from making assumptions about what matters to people in the experience, and sharing information that is of low-value and not personally relevant. The most efficient way to achieve this is through pre-chat surveys within the live chat window.

Successful companies are also making sure their customer service agents are taking their time on queries to ensure that customers get full resolutions and don't have to return to get their questions answered.

Ensuring no customer's questions go unnoticed

Integrating a live chat solution within an omnichannel platform that works across all digital channels is also incredibly important. The customer experience is all about convenience these days, and customers want to feel like they are getting the best possible customer service no matter what their preferred channel is.

Omnichannel platforms that aggregate communications from all channels — whether it be Facebook Chat, Twitter DMs, email or live chat — are crucial to providing a smooth, coherent, and helpful experience for the end user. It also means your agents never have to go on a scavenger hunt for information, and an interaction with a customer is never missed. After over a year since stay-at-home orders were put in place, people are missing in person interactions. Retailers that ensure all customer interactions do not go unnoticed will provide another layer of trust and intention with their customers.

While we all hope that the effects of COVID-19 will soon begin to fade, the 'age of empathy' in customer engagement won't. The pandemic may have highlighted the importance of empathy, but empathy has always been at the core of human relationships and those retail brands who can genuinely deliver it will come out on top.

Jeff Epstein is Comm100's VP of marketing and strategy