Businesses are constantly seeking ways to provide exceptional support while driving efficiencies. It’s easy to see why digital deflection - steering customers toward self-help resources - has become the norm.
On paper, it’s a logical approach. Customers get support: and customer service agents gain more time. However, digital deflection misses the mark when it comes to delivering the personalized support and human touch that customers crave.
There’s a better alternative. Instead of digital deflection, offer digital ridealongs.
In this article, I’ll explore why digital deflection is not always a viable strategy. I’ll show how digital ridealongs offer a more customer-centric approach to customer engagement. One that empowers businesses to enhance support experiences and build lasting relationships with their customers.
Digital Deflection Pitfalls
Digital deflection has long been a staple in customer support, with the primary goal of guiding customers toward self-help resources such as FAQs, chatbots, and knowledge bases.
While these tools can be effective in reducing the workload on human agents and streamlining support processes, they can also lead to frustration and dissatisfaction when customers encounter complex issues that require personalized assistance.
By implementing digital deflection strategies, companies have put digital gates between their customers and their support agents, making it difficult for customers to talk to a real person. Rerouting a customer somewhere else to fix their issues is a clunky experience.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that digital deflection, though well-intentioned, can be problematic. The word “deflection” itself has negative connotations.
...digital ridealongs empower support representatives with guided customer support tools, allowing them to assist customers in navigating through issues.
Do you want to be deflected? Probably not. Neither do your customers. And if they feel neglected, they’ll flee. According to Zendesk, after more than one bad experience, around 80% of consumers say they would rather do business with a competitor.
Imagine being a customer facing a technical problem with a recently purchased product, only to be met with automated responses and generic solutions from chatbots and knowledge bases.
Despite the company’s best efforts to deflect queries away from live agents, the customer is left feeling frustrated and dissatisfied, with their issue unresolved. This scenario highlights the limitations of digital deflection tactics and underscores the need for a more customer-centric approach to customer support.
Digital Ridealongs: The Better Alternative
Enter digital ridealongs: a concept that aims to transform the way businesses engage with their customers by providing real-time assistance and personalized interactions.
Instead of deflecting customers away from live agents, digital ridealongs empower support representatives with guided customer support tools, allowing them to assist customers in navigating through issues.
Here are several examples of these tools.
- Mobile app share. Representatives join customers inside your mobile app - all customers do is accept a simple prompt - to see only what they’re seeing inside that app and guide their actions.
- Cobrowse. See what your customers see and assist their navigation in your website or desktop app: securely, in-person, and in the moment.
- Video. Add live video chat to any cobrowse or mobile app share experience to augment onscreen interactions with powerful, personal, face-to-face collaboration: right in your current website or app and with nothing for users to download or install.
- Mobile camera share. With no app to install, invite customers or colleagues to share their mobile cameras and see what’s in their environment for troubleshooting, advisory services, or issue resolution.
- Screen share. Secure screen sharing technology lets representatives see any screen, browser tab, or app on a customer’s computer.
By offering customers the option to engage with live agents when self-help resources fall short, businesses can provide a more seamless and personalized support experience, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
And because the agents are equipped with tools to help them understand and see the customers’ issues, they’re able to solve the issues faster.
Here’s an example. A customer has questions about a mortgage application they’re going through online. They engage with a chatbot, but it quickly becomes clear that they need human assistance.
Right on their app or screen, an agent meets them. They have all the context they need, not only from the customer’s history and chatbot conversation, but also from the customer’s screen: because they can see it.
By offering customers the option to engage with live agents when self-help resources fall short, businesses can provide a more seamless and personalized support experience...
Using cobrowsing technology, the agent can easily guide the customer through their form and even help them fill out any necessary fields.
Instead of getting frustrated and sifting through page after page of self-help articles, the customer’s issue was resolved quickly: and they made a meaningful connection that fostered loyalty and confidence.
Advantages of Riding Along
Beyond creating opportunities for meaningful connections, there are several other advantages of digital ridealongs.
1. Real-time assistance and personalized interactions. Unlike traditional digital deflection tactics, which often rely on automated responses and generic solutions, digital ridealongs enable support representatives to engage with customers in real-time, offering tailored solutions to their specific needs.
This personalized approach not only enhances the customer experience (CX) but also helps build stronger relationships between businesses and their customers. They promise higher customer satisfaction and overall positive user experiences, according to a report from my company.
2. Upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Digital ridealongs are not only great for problem-solving, they can also be revenue-drivers. The opportunity for cross-selling and upselling can lead to higher conversion rates. According to Zendesk, 64% of customers will spend more if a business resolves their issues where they already are.
3. Deeper insights into customer issues and preferences. Personally engaging with customers provides a better view of their problems and preferences. This enables businesses to provide more targeted support and identify areas for improvement.
4. Competitive advantage. Businesses that embrace digital ridealongs gain a competitive edge by delivering superior support experiences. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, exceptional customer service sets businesses apart and attracts and retains customers.
Digital Ridealongs Versus Digital Deflection
Sometimes there’s a fear that incorporating digital ridealongs will make contact center teams less efficient. It seems easier to send customers down the rabbit hole of self-help.
But this is a band-aid solution. And when that band-aid is ripped off, your customer is left feeling isolated, neglected, and still with unresolved issues.
That’s not to say that chatbots and self-help articles aren’t valuable. They’re incredibly important. They just aren’t the end-all-be-all.
By integrating the appropriate guided customer support tools into their operations, companies can turn solitary journeys into collaborative ridealongs.
The key is knowing the right moments to take customers on a digital ridealong. The exact moment in their digital journey where there’s friction: that’s when it’s time to step in.
And contrary to what you might think, incorporating digital ridealongs in your CX strategy actually helps you gain efficiencies. Research performed for us shows that guided customer support CX tools were proven to reduce AHT by 20%, improve FCR, and deliver an astounding 394% ROI.
The Human Element
What we’re seeing is that as organizations quickly went through digital transformations, the focus was on tech, speed, and efficiency.
Along the way, we’ve lost sight of a very important asset: people. Humans are what makes organizations thrive, and it’s important to strike a balance between human and tech to ensure customers’ needs are met.
Technology can help facilitate a more authentic human connection in the digital world. According also to Zendesk, nearly 75% of agents expressed that increased access to tools and data would significantly enhance their ability to personalize interactions with customers.
In this age of artificial intelligence (AI), the role of customer service agents is evolving. As AI handles simpler tasks, agents need to be equipped with the right tools to effectively tackle more challenging cases.
By integrating the appropriate guided customer support tools into their operations, companies can turn solitary journeys into collaborative ridealongs.
Customers have high expectations for support experiences. They want them to be seamless and tailored to their needs.
That’s why it’s crucial for businesses to rethink their customer engagement strategies by embracing a more customer-centric approach. One that bridges the gap between technology and humanity to create a support experience that’s both seamless and meaningful.