5 Customer Service Automation you need to know

How to automate customer service? Explore examples of automation

Customer service automation can be divided into different categories, taking into account the type of business. Each type of business has specific needs, customer problems and processes that can be automated. Below you will find a list of examples of customer service automation that we have broken down by industry:

1. E-commerce — online customer service chatbots, automatic handling of returns and complaints, omnichannel solutions, automation in tracking of shipments and auto notifications.
2. B2C service companies — automation of customer feedback, automated online bookings, automatic notifications about the status of a case or booked appointment.
3. B2B service companies — automation in generating contracts for customers, generating hourly reports, automation in sending commercial offers.
4. Hospitality and tourism — automation in receiving guest applications and assigning tasks for staff, chatbots 24/7, automation in customer satisfaction survey sent after the stay.
5. Call centers and large companies — voicebots, a contact center system for automation in the reception of requests and their redirection, analysis of requests using AI (artificial intelligence).

Customer Service Automations you need to know

In recent years, as Sagiton Automation, we have had the opportunity to implement customer service automation in companies from various industries. Thanks to the automation of processes, the companies working with us have significantly improved the efficiency of their customer service teams, reduced the response time to inquiries and increased customer satisfaction. Below we have collected the most important types of automation that we think are worth knowing and considering in your organization.

1. 24/7 Customer Service Automation — use virtual assistants and customer service chatbots

Virtual customer service employees are one of the solutions that really improve customer experience and thus customer satisfaction. With the implementation of customer service chatbots and virtual assistants, companies can automatically accept requests, answer frequently asked questions, and support self-service processes — no matter the time of day.

Automation in 24/7 customer service — such customer service automation can prove crucial to your business if the type of services offered requires round-the-clock support. Typically, companies choose chatbots that generate automatic responses in real time based on a database prepared by the customer service team or information from their website.

How does such a service process look like? Artificial intelligence (AI) initially analyzes the data provided by the company. Then, when a customer uses a chatbot on a website, the AI assistant responds to him with messages generated based on the information received. Importantly, customer service team have access to the admin panel all the time, and they can switch the chatbot to “human customer service” at any time and direct the conversation on their own. Such functionality is important especially in the first weeks of use, when the chatbot is still learning to respond adequately to customer problems.

Virtual assistants and automation in the creation of the FAQ section — in addition, modern solutions for implementing chatbots on websites also offer to save the entire history of conversations with customers. Thanks to this, you not only always know if the AI is providing information consistent with the information you have prepared, but you also have access to all the historical conversations. Based on them, you can implement automation in the analysis of customer behavior to generate reports or statistics on inquiries and make business decisions based on them. One example may be increased inquiries for a specific product that your company does not currently have on offer. Customer service employees will not always pass such data on to marketing or sales department, but the chatbot can send automatic notifications when the number of inquiries for a given product exceeds a certain value. Such customer support tools also allow automation in the creation of the FAQ section, which can be dynamically expanded based on the most common questions asked to the chatbot. Improve your customer service area, reduce department maintenance costs and improve your customer experience by implementing digital process automation!

2. Automation in the Management of Requests

In companies that handle hundreds or thousands of queries every day, there is often a long waiting time for customers to be serviced. Automation in the management of requests can help you increase the efficiency of these processes. Thanks to properly designed systems, inquries can be automatically recorded, categorized, assigned to the appropriate departments and monitored at every stage. Such automation in customer service 24/7 makes it easier to maintain business continuity and respond quickly to customer problems. By integrating the system with CRM and automation in calendar managing, companies can effectively reduce response time, improve customer service, and increase customer satisfaction.

How can such automation look like?

The customer service process could start by automatically accepting requests from various channels — contact forms, emails, help desk systems or CRM platforms. The system would then automatically categorize and prioritize requests based on keywords, customer history, or rules pre-defined by the customer service team. In the next step, the inquiry would be assigned to the appropriate department or specific employee to eliminate the need for manual distribution. And this is where automation in calendar managing comes to the rescue — it would check which employee currently has the least assigned tickets. If the customer expects a response, they can be automatically informed of the waiting time or the next steps. Such a contact center system monitors progress and can automatically send reminders about unresolved issues, escalate requests in case of delays, and generate reports for managers. The entire process ends with the automatic closing of the request after its resolution and — optionally — sending the survey, as part of the automation in the customer satisfaction survey.

3. Automation of Phone Customer Service - what can we optimize?

Your customer service processes are mostly done over the phone, which makes you think they are impossible to automate? Nothing could be further from the truth! Automation of phone customer service allows you to significantly improve your daily work. A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system integrated with a VoIP PBX will work best as the center of such a solution. A VoIP (Voice over IP) exchange is an internet-based telephone system that allows you to make voice calls without using traditional telephone lines. Thanks to this, we can better manage calls, record them, use redirection and integrate the system with other customer service tools, which supports the digital automation of communication processes.

As Sagiton, we have created a customer service automation tool called Sales Automation CRM, which is nothing more than a customer service platform integrated with VoIP technology. You can find out more about our solution here: https://www.sagiton.pl/en/products/crm-for-sales-with-voip-ai

How can CRM (Customer Relationship Management) integrated with VoIP help you?

1. Automatic Conversation Transcripts with AI — thanks to the integration with artificial intelligence, the CRM system allows automatic generation of conversation transcripts. Such transcripts help customer service representatives analyze customer issues faster and thus reduce response time.
2. Generate Conversation Summaries — after the connection is complete, the CRM system can automatically create a summary of the conversation, capturing key information from the transcript and assigning it to the customer profile. This solution allows the team to move faster to the next tasks without wasting time preparing notes or reports manually, while improving the quality of customer service. Such summaries also allow you to use the personalization of communication by automatically sending customers the most important points by e-mail or SMS. Benefit from effective customer service today!
3. Automation in Sending Offers — CRM integrated with VoIP allows you not only to manage conversations, but also to automate further steps. With it, you can implement automation in sending offers after the connection is completed. The AI will analyze the content of the conversation, make the appropriate calculations and generate the document, and the person from the sales department will only approve it before finally sending it to the customer.
4. Monitoring the Progress of the Work — CRM system allows automation in monitoring the progress of work by tracking the statuses of requests, updates of notes and reminders. Thanks to this, companies can automate the assignment of tasks and react faster to changes, which translates into improved customer service. Managers can also listen to conversations and monitor progress on clear dashboards with call statistics.
5. Automation in the analysis of emotions — thanks to the use of AI, CRM with VoIP can also analyze the emotions of customers based on the tone of voice in phone conversations, which effectively supports automation in the analysis of customer behavior. Thanks to such solutions, customer service representatives can better understand customer needs, adjust the tone of communication and, as a result, automate service in a more empathetic way, which translates into greater customer satisfaction and a better customer experience.
   

4. Bid Automation — create quotes faster, cheaper and more efficiently

Automation in sending offers is a key element that can dramatically speed up customer service processes and increase sales efficiency. Thanks to the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system integrated with communication tools, it is possible to generate personalized offers based on customer data, their previous queries or purchase history. Automation in communication with customers allows not only to respond faster, but also to adapt the content of offers to the specific needs of the recipient, which positively affects the customer experience. In this way, companies can automate the service at the bidding stage — from the moment the need is recognized, through the automatic preparation of documents, to their dispatch in a timely manner. Moreover, such automation of business processes translates into greater customer satisfaction and increases the chances of conversion and building long-term relationships, because customers receive quick, consistent and tailored answers, without having to repeat information or wait for contact from an advisor. This makes them feel cared for and treated individually, which strengthens their loyalty to the brand and prompts them to make subsequent purchases or recommend the company to others.

What can a sample automation look like in sending offers?

In every company for which we provide business process automation services, both products and customer needs are different. Therefore, the implementation of bidding automation will vary depending on the enterprise and its individual requirements. To illustrate to you what an example of automation in sending offers can look like, we have prepared the schedule below.

1. The customer fills in the contact form on the website
2. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) automatically analyzes your data and purchasing preferences and generates a personalized offer based on this.
3. Then, using automation in the generation of personalized messages, the system sends it by e-mail or SMS at the time you set - for example, a few minutes after filling out the form.
4. By integrating with automation tools in the analysis of customer needs, the system can also suggest complementary products or special offers that increase the chance of conversion.

The whole process can take place without human participation, which significantly speeds up the response and increases the efficiency of sales. This kind of solution is an example of how automation in customer communication can work in practice, while improving the customer experience and reducing response time.

5. Enhance Customer Satisfaction with 3D Configurators and Visualizations

Thanks to configurators and 3D visualizations, customers can independently customize products to their needs and see them in a realistic form even before making a purchase. Such automation in the help in the configuration of the offer allows customers to better understand the offer. In addition, the real-time configuration process and the ability to view the finished product in 3D significantly improve the quality of the shopping experience, resulting in faster purchasing decisions and increasing customer loyalty.

How do online configurators affect customer service maintenance costs?

The implementation of automation of product presentation translates into a reduction in manual labor costs. Customer service responds only to specific queries and not to every request to present the product. Such solutions will be great if you sell complex products with a high degree of variability (options) such as color, finishing material, size, power, or additional equipment. Examples of such products are custom-made furniture, modular systems or cars. See what else the implementation will help you online configurators!

Do you want to use customer service automation or artificial intelligence in your business?

Automation of customer service and the use of artificial intelligence are investments that can significantly improve the quality and efficiency of business processes. With modern tools such as chatbots, CRM systems, or advanced data processing technologies, you can automate many aspects of your customer service processes — from accepting requests to generating offers. The benefits of these solutions are, among others, increasing the availability of 24/7 service or faster response to inquiries. In addition, automation makes it possible to collect data on the needs of customers, which allows a better adaptation of the future offer to their expectations. If your customer service staff needs support and you are considering implementing the right tools to improve their work — contact us. We will be happy to help you implement automation in communication with customers.