Is the role of the human being in customer relations threatened by self-care ?

The world of customer relations is by nature constantly evolving. Consumers are changing their behavior, and new technologies are contributing to this. The temptation for brands to promote self-care is great. According to a Forrester study, 72% of consumers prefer to find a solution to their problem on their own. But what about the place of the human in customer service?

This article will allow us to better understand the consequences of Selfcare and what it implies for Human Resources management.

Current constraints

Often confronted with the management of more or less complex disputes, customer service advisors are essential to guaranteeing the satisfaction of your customers. However, as we’ve already seen in the article on tips for recruiting and retaining advisors, there is a high turnover of advisors in the customer service field. Add to that, a certain difficulty in recruiting talent that you will be able to retain. The secret to effectively saving money on customer support is to reduce costs without compromising quality. That’s why some topics can be perfectly handled by relying on self-care tools to automate your customer service. Solutions such as chatbots can meet the growing demand of customers who want answers 24/7.

History and trend

Long before the arrival of digital in the business world, the human being took a major place in the customer relationship. An obvious choice, given that digital had not yet appeared. Today, we observe a mix between human and digital experiences. Especially during the period of health crisis that we have experienced. This combination is partly linked to the change in consumer behavior. In B2C, the customer wants to save time while shopping and find the answer to his problems by himself. In B2B, however, there is an increasing use of ticket management solutions.

Customer relations are becoming more and more omnichannel, which does not mean being present everywhere, all the time, but above all knowing how to orchestrate the channels. The final objective is totally focused on the customer and his satisfaction. It is therefore necessary to adapt to their needs by offering them the best channel at the right time. This is taking shape with the strong emergence of messaging solutions and Artificial Intelligence. One example is Target First, which with its behavioral targeting algorithm targets the most qualified Internet users in real time.

Selfcare solutions

Self-care is a digital solution that allows a customer to be assisted without the help of a human. It is an alternative solution to the human being and in full expansion in the world of customer relations.

• Ticket Management Tool: IT ticket management tools help to record, manage and resolve customer issues. This solution can efficiently handle a high volume of support requests from various communication channels. On average, between 70 – 80% of level 1 tickets are resolved. The remaining tickets are more complex and costly issues as they require more interaction between human advisors and customers
• Chatbot: The chatbot is available 24/7 to provide solutions to its interlocutor thanks to artificial intelligence.
• Dynamic FAQ: This is a solution that aims to answer directly to the questions of customers, employees, visitors to a website. It can take the form of a search bar. A dynamic FAQ well enriched can allow to reach a rate of good answers of 95%.
• Voicebot: A voicebot allows its user to interact with a device or a service simply by speaking. Driven by artificial intelligence, voicebots will be able to handle 70% of interactions in customer support centers within 2 years.
• Callbot: A callbot is a voice assistant capable of conversing with a caller on the phone, understanding their problem and solving it autonomously, 24/7, without waiting time. This solution allows a 40% reduction in average call handling time.
• Community support spaces:Community spaces are places where your brand’s customers can exchange information with each other. They can take the form of forums or community chat solutions.

We hear more and more about Phygital. A mix between digital and physical experiences. Companies aim to make the combination of their channels fluid and transparent. This is particularly the case with the concept of Visio Sales, which is the way to use the best of the human potential and to erase a little more the borders between digital and retail.