Human Touch is Key to BPO Success

by Ekon Keita Marketing Manager

“Hi! How can we help you today?” is a common greeting message you must have received on call or online, while seeking tech support but have you ever felt helpless as the bot could not quickly and efficiently resolve your issue?

A newly published survey of 15,000 respondents conducted globally by PricewaterhouseCoopers, revealed two-thirds of customers feel firms lack human element in customer experience and three-quarters expect more human communication from consumer contact centre service providers.

Digitisation and automation have transformed several industries such as customer care services but we cannot ignore the value of human touch, a precious factor to win customers.

While bot services are many times useful for collecting data, there exist numerous time tested reasons why live customer service agents are still the front runners in technical support.

Personalisation

The study found that 84 percent of customers take more interest in availing products and services of brands that treat them as distinct humans rather than just tickets. 56 percent of respondents seek a personalized customer experience when contacting customer care agents.

When customers contact a customer care representative, they want to get in touch with another person having the expertise to solve their problem. Humans have a primal need to feel understood and valued, so active listening and empathic communication play crucial roles in agents’ abilities to help customers.

Support executives can understand issues from their customer’s view, not only resolving the issue but also building personal and long-term relations with their customers.

Increase Efficiency and Decrease Hassle

57 percent of surveyees find live customer service executives more effective in handling their requirements, compared to bots.

Digitising customer support often improves efficiency of omni channel customer experience networks, albeit not always. Current technology does not allow human communication to be completely replaced by robots. A customer care agent can respond to customers’ concerns immediately, determining solutions to seemingly complex issues quickly especially with more experience, compared to virtual channels enabling a positive experience for end users. Live agents can also help apply off-script solutions, a key metric that sets apart quality customer care services of successful Fortune 500 MNCs from mediocre customer support offered by other firms.

Self-Service has Limitations

The research states that 65 percent of respondents find it challenging to use websites and online platforms for self-guided and chat support.

Self-service resources and online chats offer valuable tech support but cannot meet needs of every customer. Lack of technical know-how of consumers and repetitive behaviour of chat bots make live customer support services indispensable.

Conclusion

Thus, unsurprisingly human touch is indeed a ‘luxury’ in customer service. Despite the rapid advancement of communication technology in the last two decades, the value of human interaction in interpersonal relationship development, problem solving and customer satisfaction cannot be underestimated. Seamless omni channel customer experience transitioning from self-service to contact centre service providers is key to improving customer engagement and delivering a premium grade customer experience.

Ison Xperience is one of the best BPO companies in South Africa. If you are looking to explore the true essence of customer satisfaction, then this BPO company should be there on your contact list without fail.