When we talk about customer service, people assume it’s only about fixing something that went wrong. Of course, solving problems is a part of customer service, but it’s not the only focus.
But the leading brands also invest in providing better customer support to increase customer retention. So, rather than focusing only on fixing errors and answering questions at the lowest cost possible, these brands also focus on features like self-service, digital enhancement, and AI-powered automation. We call this “End-to-Endless,” or E2E customer service.
E2E customer service is essential for an engagement at every step of their journey: from learning and purchasing to using and repurchasing.
It helps customers save efforts in making a valuable purchase decision by providing insights into the product lifecycle.
Also, E2E is not just another cost center. Instead, it contributes to your business’s growth by creating customer loyalty and trust.
There is no doubt that experience has become essential for growth, but service is even more crucial for exceeding customer expectations.
In addition, customers want brands that align with their motivations, desired outcomes, and preferences of the methods to achieve these outcomes.
A product-centric approach will fail to survive today’s customer-focused market, their want, and values. So here are three critical opportunities for E2E service:
Reduce the customer-initiated efforts by adding bold and predictive capabilities to E2E service.
It’s in our nature to try to solve problems as they arise. Providing customers with a standard self-service toolkit helps them address their needs quickly and easily.
Still, a better approach would be to identify, predict and address an issue to reduce customer effort and avoid negative impacts on customer experience.
You need to leverage your customer data that anticipates when you’re at risk of not meeting customers’ expectations or promised product or service performance and gain a deep understanding of customer needs.
And when you take responsibility for proactively understanding, anticipating, and meeting customers’ needs, customers are willing to pay for these proactive services.
Provide personalized and contextually relevant strategic advice to the customers on how to get the most value from their purchases. As a result, maximize the value delivered to customers.
Customers always appreciate excellent services throughout their experience. In addition, technology advancements and AI have created the opportunity to implement dedicated support teams, unlocking more loyal relationships at scale.
Maximize value by leveraging customer data insights. Data gathered throughout the life cycle of interactions with the customer through customer success teams can be leveraged with AI. This way, you can increase your impact as a trusted advisor supporting customer success.
Artificial intelligence makes it scalable. Most service organizations are already using AI to deliver personalized experiences at scale.
Serving as the “trusted advisor” is what makes a product indispensable. Companies must combine automation, AI, and human advisors to help customers grow value from their products and services.
Use insights from the service organization to modify how products and services are positioned in the product innovation process.
Service channels collect feedback and input from customers every day. Unfortunately, by undervaluing service insights, companies leave revenue on the table.
As a result, around 95% of the products fail. You can provide service to help, identify, and solve unmet customer needs and make your products and services indispensable.
Customers always notice who pays attention, so they would want to feel heard and acknowledged if they offer feedback. Activating service insights grow the possibility to create value beyond traditional functional boundaries.
Many companies have established Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs for capturing and understanding customer feedback.
Your focus should be gathering and analyzing structured and unstructured data across all service channels. More importantly, elevating and activating these insights for the rest of the organization.
Service should be seen as a value creator. It must be used to generate better products and experiences and a primary driver to boost revenues. Nurture an organizational culture that values what you sell and the service you wrap around it.
