A shift is happening in the customer service industry: reactive customer service strategies are being replaced with proactive customer service programs.
When 87% of adults surveyed report that they want and expect companies to proactively reach out, waiting for customers to contact you leads to missed opportunity after missed opportunity to delight your client base.
Tools like proactive customer chat allow companies to initiate support at known pain points in the customer lifecycle. And with a partner like Velaro, organizations are retaining more customers than their competitors.
Reduce call center volume
Proactive customer service strategies, by their nature, reduce inbound call center volume. Targeting known customer pain points is the key here. For example, 57% of inbound call center calls are attributed to a customer’s inability to locate the information they need. After basic customer service automation is in place, more sophisticated “next level” proactive tools allow companies to easily outpace the competition. Proactive chat and customer support, for example, allows service reps to monitor site traffic in real-time, send a customized chat to site visitors, and prevent abandons or head off call center inquiries before they even take place. This translates into faster service for customers and a more efficient customer service team for your business.
Increase conversion rates
Best-in-class proactive customer chat also allows companies to automate chat initiation when certain behaviors are triggered. For example, if a customer searches for a key phrase such as “how to place an order”, a chat invitation is automatically deployed, keeping customers engaged even when experiencing confusion. Or allowing an agent to assist in getting them to order completion quicker and with fewer steps or missteps. This shortens the buying cycle, and more importantly, it reduces the number of customers abandoning your site. Proactive chat tools also allow companies to target visitors based on behavior types–such as buying behavior, or site exit behavior–to reduce churn and increase conversion rates.
Improve retention and revenue
Saving company employees time and reducing customer confusion both yield quantifiable returns for businesses. SuperOffice named proactive support as the next generation in customer service due in large part to the operational benefits of such strategies, increasing customer loyalty, and prioritizing customer requests. Proactive live chat has been shown to produce a 105% ROI by improving retention rates and revenue numbers. Additionally, arming agents with a way to have an intentional, ongoing impact on the bottom line is a great way to make everyone feel good about the work they do—and a happy team is that much better at delivering a positive customer service experience.
