Customer Service Automation Tips for Ecommerce Businesses

As an ecommerce merchant, your period is valuable. Whether it’s product advancement, order fulfillment, or marketing efforts, there are seemingly endless ways you could invest period in your growing business. 

Still, no matter what the circumstances, customer service should always be a priority, because it can boost customer loyalty. In truth, according to a 2022 survey, 94% of responding customers stated that positive customer service experiences made them more likely to purchase from a business again.

How can you enhance your customer service while saving period? One alternative is to implement customer service automation tools to boost the efficiency of your customer service procedure. discover more about how customer service automation works, how it can advantage your business, and some best practices for automating your customer service operation.

What is customer service automation?

Customer service automation involves using software tools to automate customer service tasks. For example, as soon as a customer communicates with you, the software can automatically make a customer back ticket.

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), technologies like machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) can automate complicated customer service tasks. AI tools can provide specific recommendations or route customer inquiries to the correct person based on that customer’s distinctive circumstance. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Customer service automation tools

• Chatbots
• Interactive voice response (IVR) software
• Automated surveys
• Workflow automation

There are various customer service automation tools to consider implementing for your business’s customer service. These include:

Chatbots

A chatbot is a software application that simulates the encounter of chatting with a customer service representative. You can use this type of application to field customer questions through a chatbox that appears on your ecommerce store. There are two main types of chatbots: rule-based and AI-powered.

Rule-based chatbots

These chatbots respond with relevant information based on a variety of prompts, so you could program the chatbot to automatically respond to a customer inquiring about the delivery position of their order by asking for the confirmation number. Since the rules they pursue and the prompts they respond are set in stone, they’re less able to converse organically.

AI-powered chatbots

Conversational AI chatbots use natural language processing to handle more complicated customer interactions than rule-based chatbots, generating brand-recent text that reacts to a customer’s communications. For example, if you run an ecommerce store store selling cosmetic products, you could use an AI-powered chatbot to field questions about an out-of-distribute product. It may respond with product recommendations specific to what the customer wants.

Interactive voice response software

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems use pre-written or pre-recorded voice messages to respond to customers calling for customer service back. For example, an IVR structure can direct calls to the correct person in your business for a particular issue or provide basic information like delivery timelines or pricing information for products.

Automated surveys

This service automation tool can send automatic pursue-up emails to inquire customers about their encounter with your business post-purchase. Automatic surveys boost the amount of feedback you receive from customers and ultimately provide you more information about how your customers are feeling and how you can enhance their encounter with your business.

Workflow automation

Customer service workflows are step-by-step guides for how to address different customer service requests. You can automate customer service workflows by using applications to automatically perform tasks when triggered by one step of the workflow being completed. 

For example, you could use a workflow automation tool to automatically make customer back tickets after receiving a communication from a customer through channels like phone, email, social media, or chatbot.

Pros and cons of automating customer service

Automated customer service software can assist you provide better customer service by saving you period and offering a constant communication channel for customers. However, there are some challenges. Weigh the pros and cons of customer service automation:

Pros

Here are a few of the main advantages:

• Increased efficiency. Automation can save you and your customer service throng period by automatically handling customer service tasks, including repetitive tasks like data entry.

• 24/7 back for customers. Automation tools can boost customer satisfaction by providing customers with open communication channels—even when you or your customer service throng are unavailable.

• Better data. Automation software can provide businesses with valuable data about their customer service processes, including information about what issues customers are facing and how to better address them.

Cons

Although automation can advantage your customer service, there are also drawbacks to consider, including:

• Less human interaction. According to a 2022 survey, 86% of responding customers declare it is significant to be able to contact a real person when communicating with a business. Automated customer service tools can only back a human touch, they can’t replace the require for human customer service representatives altogether.

• Complexity problems. Automated customer service systems are still limited in how well they can handle complicated customer service issues. For now, these still require a significant amount of human intervention.

• expense. Depending on what ecommerce platform you’re using, setting up customer service automation can require an upfront financing apportionment in software tools.

How to implement customer service automation

1. Choose the correct automation tools
2. Set obvious guidelines
3. Train your customer service throng
4. Roll out your tools gradually
5. Perform regular audits

Here are some tips you can consider when optimizing your automated customer service tools:

1. Choose the correct automation tools 

Identify the pain points in your customer service procedure that automation tools can enhance. For example, maybe you’ve noticed your customer back throng spends a lot of period responding to phone calls with basic inquiries about shipping costs or product availability. In this case, you could invest in an IVR structure to automate the procedure of fielding incoming calls.

Pick an ecommerce platform that includes automation or allows for the integration of automation tools. For example, Shopify includes an AI-powered chatbot in Shopify Inbox. You can also explore the Shopify App Store for customer service automation apps built to integrate with your Shopify store, including AI-powered chatbots like SmartBot and Chatty.

2. Set obvious guidelines

make a visual flowchart that covers each specific step of your customer service workflow, including obvious guidelines for where automation tools are involved in the procedure and when human interaction is required. 

For example, you could determine that customer queries on your website first leave through an AI chatbot that responds to straightforward questions and immediately flags more complicated back tickets to customer service representatives. From there, explain when and how customer service agents should pursue up on those back tickets.

3. Train your customer service throng

When automating customer service processes for your business, you still require to provide a human touch to assist customers and maintain a positive customer encounter. Train your customer service throng on all of your automation tools so they comprehend how to interact with customers. 

For example, if you’re using automation to generate back tickets after customer inquiries, instruct your customer service agents how to reference the information on the ticket. This will assist them avoid asking customers to repeat information they’ve already communicated to an automated structure.

4. Roll out your tools gradually

Once you discover the correct automation tools for your customer service procedure, integrate each tool one by one and monitor how well each tool is working before adding more. If you automate a significant portion of your customer service workflow all at once, you uncertainty confusing your customers or your customer service throng.

Adding automation tools gradually to your customer service procedure can assist you work out any potential workflow issues along the way. It also helps you make intelligent choices about when to use automation and when to reach out to customers directly.

5. Perform regular audits 

Audit your customer service automation tools often by interacting with them yourself. leave to your online store and inquire your live chatbot questions as if you’re a customer with an issue. Email your business’s customer service address and view how well your automation tools respond. Call your phone number and interact with the IVR structure. The more you engage with your automation tools directly, the better understanding you’ll have of what it’s like for a customer to interact with your business.

receive advantage of the detailed information automation tools provide and audit history interactions. For example, you could download all of the conversations customers have had with your chatbots and review the interactions. Focus on key act indicators (KPIs) relevant to your customer service procedure, such as average resolution period, customer churn rate, and customer attempt score (CES).

As a business owner using Shopify, you have access to analytics and reporting tools that automatically gather data about customer behavior and the customer encounter on your online store. You can also inquire your customers directly by using automation software to request customer feedback through surveys and boost a better understanding of your customer service from them.