Many support leaders worry that by automating their support they\u2019ll make it less personal.<\/p>\n
But automated support can (and should) be deeply personal. In today\u2019s modern age, support teams simply need to redefine what being \u201cpersonal\u201d means.<\/p>\n
At Intercom, our mission has always been to make Internet business personal. In the early days we used to think that personal support was solely reserved for a human \u2013 a friendly chat<\/a>, a few choice GIFs, and the exchange of first-hand information. But with the development of automation, like bots and contextual help content, we\u2019ve significantly changed our perception of what being personal means.<\/p>\n In a modern world where customers are perennially busy, the most personal thing you can do is respect their time. When implemented right<\/a>, bots and automation help you to be more empathetic \u2013 one of the most important support trends for 2022<\/a> \u2013 as well as anticipate your customers\u2019 needs, quickly route complex queries to the right people and teams, and instantly resolve simple queries.<\/p>\n If your team is pondering whether to use \u201cbots versus humans?\u201d that\u2019s actually the wrong question. Bots and humans complement each other, they each excel at different tasks. The right question then is \u201cHow can we be personal in the right context to meet the needs of modern customers?\u201d<\/p>\n At Intercom we\u2019ve experienced many benefits from embracing the power and personal touch of bots \u2013 and so have our customers<\/a>. From happier customers to improved efficiency to a more productive team, here\u2019s how you can use automated support to achieve great, personal results at scale.<\/p>\n When you think of automated support being personal, you may be imagining a chatbot introducing itself as a lovely and capable assistant, called Rebecca or Nathan. But personal automation has nothing to do with naming a bot<\/a> or making a bot say nice things.<\/p>\n It has everything to do with understanding your customers\u2019 context and creating bots that accurately anticipate and address their needs in specific situations. Here\u2019s how automated support \u2013 when done right \u2013 can be deeply personal.<\/p>\n As humans, the most precious and fleeting commodity we have is time. Setting up personal automation means you\u2019re respecting your customers\u2019 time by getting them an answer as fast and as accurately as possible. That\u2019s true empathy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a customer has a simple question, what they want is a fast, accurate answer \u2013 now\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Think about it: no one likes<\/em> waiting on the phone line for 45 minutes or repeating the issue they\u2019re experiencing for the third time to the third person. When a customer has a simple question, what they want is a fast, accurate answer \u2013 now.<\/p>\n This is where chatbots excel at being personal. They resolve simple frequent queries<\/a> like \u201cHow do I change my credit card details?\u201d and \u201cWhat are your US shipping times?\u201d accurately and instantly.<\/p>\n One of our most fundamental needs as humans is to feel understood and known. In this digital era, one of the most personal things you can do is gather contextual data<\/a> about your customers and serve up relevant answers and help content<\/a> based on their needs.<\/p>\n \u201c79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves in exchange for contextualized interactions\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A recent study by Salesforce<\/a> revealed that 79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves in exchange for contextualized interactions in which they\u2019re immediately known and understood.<\/p>\n This is another area where chatbots excel at being personal. You can set up a bot to capture custom data about your customers \u2013 like what plan they\u2019re on, the type of query they have, and how urgent their issue is \u2013 then route their query to the right team based on what they need.<\/p>\n Both humans and bots can be personal in the right context and for the right customers and situations. They each excel at handling different types of questions and tasks in a personal way. To really illustrate this point, let\u2019s take a look at two different scenarios:<\/p>\n Want a quick cheat sheet? Here\u2019s a breakdown to help you decide which approach is best for which queries.<\/p>\n Where bots win:<\/strong><\/p>\n Where humans win:<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re concerned that introducing automation into your support strategy will feel impersonal to your customers, remember that the tools that you have available to you now<\/a> aren\u2019t at all like your old impersonal legacy support tools. Here are a few ways you can put automation to work for you, while still keeping it personal.<\/p>\n Setting up automation to handle the transactional side of things really respects your customers\u2019 time. For example, you can set up an FAQ bot to automatically answer simple questions like, \u201cHow can I change my profile picture?\u201d or \u201cHow do I update my billing details?\u201d that don\u2019t need to involve a human. Some bots \u2013 like Intercom\u2019s Resolution Bot<\/a> \u2013 can answer your customers\u2019 questions before they even finish typing.<\/p>\n You can also set up a bot to set customer expectations for how long it\u2019ll take to get a response<\/a>, or to collect personal information that will speed things up<\/a>, like the customer\u2019s email address or order number. And then, at the end of the day, when the conversation is closed, you can use automation to send a survey to see how your team did. This helps you identify opportunities where you can improve your automation and make it more personal.<\/p>\n The other area where we heavily apply automation is customer routing<\/a>. For conversations not addressed by a bot, our assignment rules take care of routing nearly half of conversations to the right place, with the rest routed to an escalation inbox to be examined by a human.<\/p>\n What this \u201cright place\u201d looks like varies, so our assignment rules consider the customer\u2019s history with us (if there is one) and decide where they should go to get the help they need. This is how we keep routing personal: we take into account multiple factors \u2013 not just account spend \u2013 to determine where our customer should go. These factors include:<\/p>\n For instance, if someone starts a conversation from our Developer Hub or their message contains technical words like \u201cpython\u201d that clearly indicate a technical topic, we know they will likely benefit most from talking to our Customer Support Engineers (CSEs). Not only does this save our team time by automating the number of manual escalations up to technical CSEs, but it inherently respects the customer\u2019s time, removing an unnecessary touch from a non-technical resource and getting the customer\u2019s query in front of the person that is best equipped to handle it, shortening resolution time.<\/p>\n Finally, you\u2019ll want to measure how your automation is doing \u2013 in particular how it\u2019s improving your customers\u2019 experience and enhancing your team\u2019s efficiency. By using automation, you\u2019ll already have a head start \u2013 last year, we learned that<\/a> companies that use chatbot technology for support are 30% more likely to report an increase in customer satisfaction and 60% more likely to report an increase in resolution times.<\/p>\n You should also look out for opportunities to improve the customer experience. If there\u2019s an answer or message that\u2019s underperforming, try tweaking the copy or filters or training the bot<\/a> further to improve performance.<\/p>\n Of course, there are some cases where automation isn\u2019t useful. This is usually when you\u2019re in a situation where you can\u2019t personalize the kind of support you\u2019re offering. Here are three types of conversations you should reserve for your human team \u2013 although even then you can use automation to route conversations to the right people and teams.<\/p>\n Requests for upgrades or cancellations should be answered by a human. When a customer is trying to give you money, you can\u2019t allow a chatbot to jeopardize the relationship before it even begins. If they\u2019re thinking about canceling, poor automation might make any negative feelings even worse, or ruin any chance at saving the relationship.<\/p>\n Customers with lots of questions, and those who need hand-holding through difficult processes or explanations, benefit from working with a human. Most of the time, these folks are more than willing to wait for a person to talk to if they know they\u2019ll get the help they need.<\/p>\n Your newest converts might end your relationship early if they find themselves continually blocked by chatbots, no matter how \u201chelpful.\u201d<\/p>\n Automation empowers you to scale your support<\/a> and provide customers with the answers they need, when they need them. But it\u2019s only one piece of the puzzle for delivering fast, personal support to your customers at the scale your business needs.<\/p>\nAutomated support can (and should be) deeply personal<\/h2>\n
Fast, accurate resolutions are what customers want<\/h3>\n
Oh to be understood: Contextual support is personal<\/em> support<\/h3>\n
Bots and humans are good at different things: Assign them queries and tasks accordingly<\/h3>\n
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3 strategies for making automated support personal<\/h2>\n
1. Automate the transactional<\/h3>\n
2. Personalize your customers\u2019 path with contextual routing<\/h3>\n
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3. Measure the impact and optimize your approach<\/h3>\n
When automated support isn\u2019t the right solution<\/h2>\n
1. Customers with sensitive issues<\/h3>\n
2. High-touch customers<\/h3>\n
3. New customers or trial customers<\/h3>\n
Automated customer support will enhance your team \u2013 never replace them<\/h2>\n