Four Ways that Automation Affects Customer Service

Automation in customer support has swiftly expanded across various businesses, including eCommerce, since ChatGPT’s November 2022 launch. One of the best examples of how AI has helped businesses improve their customer service efficiency is Klarna, a buy-now-pay-later firm that recently employed it to handle two-thirds of its customer care discussions. It’s clear that automation benefits businesses. With faster and more intelligent tools, you can spend more time enhancing the customer journey through customized interactions, meaningful conversations, and easy upselling opportunities and less time on repetitive tasks.

eServeCloud’s goal is to improve CX by utilizing automated solutions. We have analyzed data from over 14,000 merchants to see which ones use automation and which ones don’t.

The data analysis showed that the automation resulted in a 36% rise in repeat purchases, a 37% fall in FRT, a 52% reduction in ART, a 27% decrease in the ticket-to-order ratio, and a 1% increase in CSAT. These findings are sufficient to confirm that the next major step toward expanding support staff is automation.

The Evolution in Customer Service: Optimizing Performance with Reduced Effort

Do you recall the times when businesses would hire temporary staff for major events like Black Friday? When customer base increased, the hiring team would have to work quickly to add more support employees. However, as automation has improved performance while requiring less work, businesses are now aiming for smaller teams. Teams don’t need to temporarily hire more employees in order to scale and provide higher-quality services.

For complicated query handling, automation functions similarly to the initial screening that occurs before the customer is connected to a live agent. It may answer questions about order progress, refund status, and other things while being true to the brand’s identity. These are repetitive tasks that are completed in the background with little supervision or troubleshooting required.

Automation: Transforming Consumer-Business Relationships

Automation’s agility makes it the perfect tool for providing customized customer service. In addition to being a macro or keyboard shortcut, automation can be an effortless assistant that engages customers and affects sales. Nearly each component of eServeCloud’s products, including Helpdesk, Automate, and Convert, is powered by automation. Through a variety of channels and engagements across the customer journey, it enables merchants to provide satisfying and customized customer interactions.

Data analysis across various metrics like CSAT, FRT, and ART clearly shows that automation, along with other factors, significantly improves support performance metrics.

Increased in sales by 36% due to Automation

Even after firms introduce loyalty programs, it can be difficult to keep customers loyal because of the work involved in earning incentives. However, research from eServeCloud Solutions shows that simply using automation can increase repeat purchase rates. Retailers who automated 20% or more of their tickets saw an 8-point boost in recurring business after 28 days.

Fitnic, a sportswear business, used eServeCloud Solutions Convert’s on-site marketing to persuade consumers to buy more than one item. The campaign assisted the organization in increasing sales by 36% by suggesting modestly priced additional items, proving that automation directly affects revenue.

Automation resulted in a 37% faster initial reaction time.

According to research, businesses using automation have a 37% faster response rate than those without automated customer care. Automated answers hence increase FRT. It’s vital to reply to customers as soon as you can, especially on busy days like International Health Day and Black Friday, to avoid having revenue-generating inquiries fall to the back of the queue. Compared to prior years, Fitnic’s customer experience team was able to triple the number of purchases resulting from support chats.

Additionally, quicker reaction times allow agents to build closer bonds with customers.

Automation reduces customer complaint resolution time by 52%.

Resolution times are significantly faster when client tickets are automated. Compared to merchants without automation, those with it resolved tickets 52% faster. When it comes to providing pre-sale support, automation is really useful. After enabling Quick Responses, one-click FAQs that are live in Chat, a high-end bag merchant quickly diverted 450 tickets each month. 

Agents may now devote more time to customizing the remaining customer journey, knowing that consumers are well-informed about their products thanks to this significant efficiency increase.

Automation reduced the ratio of tickets to orders by 27%.

Customers need to contact support less often since automated responses offer prompt solutions to their problems. Our data indicates that there is a decrease in billable tickets per order for brands that automate at least 10% of their problems. The ticket-to-order ratio does not significantly improve for brands with little to no automation.

Fitnic, an apparel manufacturer, saw a significant 27% reduction in the number of tickets per order when more than 10% of tickets were automated. Self-serve tools allowed customers to resolve discounts, subscription policies, and return concerns on their own. Examples of these tools are interactive chats dubbed Flows and Article Recommendations.

Automation for 30 days enables brands to grow more quickly.

Brands experienced a 1% rise in CSAT score thirty days after setting up automation in eServeCloud Solutions, with a 4.51 score as opposed to a 4.46 score for non-automating brands. Although satisfaction hardly registered a blip, the good impacts extended to support teams, boosting agent morale and fostering better collaboration. CX teams are able to see their influence since eServeCloud Solutions offers comprehensive chat analytics.

It is evident that the customer journey is greatly improved by establishing a balance between automation and customization. Automation has clear benefits, as evidenced by the 2.7 times higher likelihood of repeat business from customers who had a great experience.

Agents of the future will be AI tutors.

The field of artificial intelligence has quickly advanced. However, keep in mind that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) in customer support are just getting started. Our goal for AI is that it will always be a work in progress, absorbing data until it is strong enough to tackle increasingly difficult jobs. Agents will therefore have more time to develop solid connections with customers and look for opportunities for business growth.

Leading the way in this evolution is eServeCloud Solutions, which is creating AI-driven and automated solutions such as an AI-generated Help Center, an AI Agent, a generative AI assistant that responds to inquiries from customers on its own, and an Interaction Quality Score for tracking and reporting on interactions between AI and customers. Our mission is to transform the way customers and support teams engage with AI, opening the door to more significant customer experiences at the human level.