4 Questions to Ask When Assessing Your Brand’s Digital Customer Experience

If your company’s digital customer support channels aren’t keeping pace with customer expectations, customers may move on to your competitors.

When was the last time your company evaluated or implemented new technologies to help with customer support? If it’s been a while, it’s time to reassess to stay competitive.

“With the increasing rate of innovation in tech and business, it can be difficult for a digital transformation strategy to stay relevant beyond a few years,” says technology adoption platform Apty.

“For this reason, you must reassess your strategy every two to three years to avoid investing in a strategy that may have already become obsolete due to a sudden disruption in tech or organizational workflow processes.”

The digital support channels your company has in place have a major impact on how your customers and potential customers view and trust your brand. One reason is that consumers no longer simply visit your brand’s website for the information they need.

“Consumer habits have changed forever thanks to the transformative power of digital technology,” according to customer service software provider Acquire.

“Nowadays, a company’s digital presence extends far beyond its website or app —and the traditional mainstay of the homepage is becoming increasingly peripheral.”

Is your company due for a digital reassessment?

Ask these four questions to help management determine which technologies should be added, upgraded, or replaced with a better option for customer support.

1. Do customers have self-serve options?

Around 80 percent of customers prefer to help themselves instead of calling a customer support agent, according to Harvard Business Review. Self-serve support channels help your customer service reps, too, freeing up more time to field calls and resolve caller issues.

Conversational chatbots can answer up to 80 percent of common customer inquiries, escalating tickets when necessary, and 51 percent of consumers prefer FAQs and other online databases, says Acquire.

2. Can customers choose from multichannel options?

The narrow customer service communication options from the past have expanded greatly, with customers expecting more than just a couple of ways they can get answers or support online.

“Just being present across channels isn’t the end of it,” says Acquire. “Those channels need to deliver consistently and offer a quality integrated service.”

The most common multichannel support options include:

• Chatbots
• Live chat
• Social media
• Text messaging
• Email

3. Is there a single customer data location?

Customers don’t want to have to repeat themselves, explaining their issues over and over again when transferred to another department or calling back for the same issue, says Acquire.

“Using a centralized database is a good way to connect the dots between interactions, ensuring this doesn’t happen.”

With customer support and customer relationship management software, you can offer customers a holistic customer experience and allow your company to do the following, according to Acquire:

• Create a cross-channel customer experience consistently
• Access previous customer contacts and interactions
• Keep track of a holistic view of each customer’s interactions and characteristics from multiple devices

4. Why must our company transform digitally?

To stay ahead of competitors and grow your business, your brand must stay on top of digital technologies and innovations that can offer a better customer experience, says Apty.

“For example, your competitors might be generating a high number of leads, setting up calls, and landing clients before lunchtime. But you are still using the old referral methodology of getting leads and cold-calling people.

“Sticking to legacy systems will not help you. To stay competitive and ensure business growth, transform your business by incorporating the latest digital tools.”