Well-Trained Customer Service Employees Do What AI Can’t

Customer expectations are high. Two things that seem to be at odds, are key to increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and well-trained customer service employees. AI delivers the streamlined experience and customer-facing employees step in when there’s trouble.

Brands that have combined the two well are improving the entire customer journey, building brand loyalty, increasing retention rates, and ultimately helping grow an organization’s bottom line.

As consumers, we all know that a million aggravations can happen with even the simplest of transactions, no matter if it’s online or at a brick-and-mortar store or restaurant. One bad experience can destroy the goodwill built over the 20 previous interactions which were all perfect. Therefore, customer service must be “on” every time.

Having great customer service is, of course, not just an image thing, it’s critical to the bottom line. Eighty-six percent of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after just two poor customer experiences.  And your current customers are often your most valuable. Research by Adobe found that a repeat customer generated three to seven times more revenue per visit than new customers.
 

Invest in automation and train employees who interact with customers

AI is a growing part of creating a good customer experience because it can process huge amounts of data quickly. It understands our preferences, streamlines our purchases, enables us to get answers, check order status, make payments, and much more – 24 hours a day. Many customers actually prefer the speed and ease of ordering, asking questions and finding the information they’re looking for without ever interacting with a human.

But customers still value human interaction – particularly when there’s a problem. They want well-trained representatives who can provide answers, compassion, and understanding at the speed of AI. This means your employees are getting the most difficult customers – the ones automation can’t help.

And that job is getting harder because customers are getting louder. The National Customer Rage Survey, which tracks satisfaction and incivility, shows that customer rage and indivility have steadily increase over time. In 2023, 43% of customers raised their voice during complaints, up from 35% in 2015. Revenge-seeking behavior tripled since 2020.

Customers are also getting less patient. (Or maybe wait times are getting longer?) As little as seven years ago, studies showed that 60 percent of consumers believed one minute was too long to be on hold, and 33 percent believed customer service should pick up the call immediately with no hold time. Today, Waitwhile reports that the wait times in retail have increased by 61% since 2022. Staffing shortages, rising customer expectations, and more complex services in some industries are to blame.  
 

Schedule your private, group session: Dealing With Today’s Difficult Customers.
 

Customer service training goes beyond technical expertise

Customer service is the backbone of a successful organization. Keeping the customers an organization already has is critical to revenue growth. By training frontline workers and customer service professionals, you prepare them to handle even the rudest customers. Beyond just helping customers with your products and technology, a well-trained rep can ensure that your unhappy customers are greeted by a friendly, calm, problem-solver who is empowered, listens well and shows empathy.

Employees who can skillfully handle complicated problems and emotional customers are invaluable to your customers’ experience, satisfaction, loyalty and positive word of mouth on social media. 

Three  key steps will elevate the role of customer care employees, thus improving customer service: 

1. Get the right people in the door to begin with

   Ask behavioral questions to identify individuals with high-level soft skills including empathy, communication, patience, problem-solving and flexibility.

2. Create more formal opportunities for learning and development

   Beyond product and technical proficiency and training, employees who interact with customers need the soft skills that influence how they interact with your customers. Many of these skills can be trained and then practiced, enabling frontline or call-center workers to know exactly how to interact with various customer types and in different situations.

3. Create and make visible career pathways for individuals in these roles

   Retaining experienced frontline workers or customer care agents will help elevate your customer experience. These employees need to regularly see the value in what they do. Empower them to make decisions on their own. As they progress, create horizontal paths such as mentor roles or “senior” titles and responsibilities (along with a corresponding pay bump). 

The role of customer service employees is evolving and becoming more complex and challenging. Customers like self-service, but need human interaction when they can’t solve the problem on their own. Reskilling workers for this critical role translates into greater customer loyalty and higher profits.