Have you ever, out of curiosity, started chatting with chatbots on shopping sites to test how ‘human’ the replies can get? Just 20 years ago, we would not have imagined conversing with a robot that can give human-like replies to get help. The development of artificial intelligence (AI) really sped up from the 1990s, offering customer service options such as predictive search and chatbots for help in this digital age. Even as AI becomes more sophisticated, it does not seem to have effectively integrated the human touch when it comes to customer experience.
As rapidly as technology has advanced, so has the demand increased for a personalised experience that emphasises human touch in customer experiences. 49% of 1,006 US shoppers reported impulsive buying after receiving personalised customer experiences, according to a 2017 survey conducted by Globalnewswire. A Walker study also found that the most crucial brand differentiator in 2020 was neither price, nor product, but customer experience. This is powerful evidence that you will need to integrate human touch at every touch point online, for customers to keep coming back.
This article explores ways for businesses to improve customer service experience in this digital age by integrating human touch.
How To Effectively Integrate Human Touch Into Your Business
Here are 5 handy tips for businesses like yours to integrate human touch in the digital age:
1. Understand Your Target Audience
It is important to define and segment your target audience, and pinpoint the online channels they commonly use. This helps you to create advertisements on the right channels and reach out to the correct group of people who want your product or service.
For example if you sell gym attire, banner advertisements on sports-focused blogs will display your message to the right audience. On the other hand, if your relocation business caters mainly to expats from Canada, it will then be crucial to know some of the commonly used media channels used by them. Selecting the right medium helps you to maximise return of investment on marketing efforts.
By creating advertisements that speak to specific personas, you can capture the audience’s attention amongst a sea of products and services. Advertising on the right channels and appealing to their specific interests through creative advertising creates a personalised experience for your target audience. In fact, studies show that 86% of buyers will pay more for a great customer experience, so knowing your target audience increases the value of your products and services too.
2. Personalise Your Message
Another way of integrating the human touch is to simply include your customer’s name when sending out marketing materials. While many companies now incorporate subscriber sign-ups on their site for electronic direct mail (EDM) marketing, these update blasts are addressed to no-one in particular. EDM is great for keeping in touch with a large base of consumers. A well-integrated campaign begins with email updates of new products or services but continues the process by retargeting ads to appeal to those that have seen the email. It might also include a supporting social media campaign, and even text messages to encourage in-shop purchases. In order to personalise the brand experience, including the customer’s name creates authenticity and warmth, making the customer feel more valued.
If you’re unsure how to include customers’ names for an extensive database, customer relationship management tools like Hubspot can ease the complexity by personalising emails and updates for your customers. Clearly, even in this digital age, integrating the human touch with online tools will make the customer experience more authentic.
3. Tap On Real-Life Testimonials
It’s easy for businesses to brag about their product or service, but including real-life customer testimonials is the best way to integrate human touch and gain trust.
Testimonials redirect the spotlight on the customer. Once the potential new buyer hears from someone who is not paid to say these things, their trust deepens and marketing dissonance lessens while chances of purchasing rises. Hearing about someone’s experience makes the entire purchasing process more relatable, especially in this digital age.
You can include testimonials on landing pages, in emails, or even build a separate customer testimonial page. Some tips to enhance your testimonials include using high-quality photos and videos of real-life customers and making it easy for them to submit their reviews. It is also recommended to include testimonials on product pages where you wish to drive sales conversions.
4. Include A Live Chat Function
As companies embrace rapid digital transformation, a feature that evolved quickly in this digital age is customer communication. Companies must meet increasing demand for better and faster communication to maintain good customer experiences. E-mails take time for a response, and phone calls may face the barrier of different time zones.
Live chat refers to customer messaging software that allows customers to speak directly with a representative in real-time. It usually appears as a pop-up chat window within a website. In some cases, the customer starts the online chat; in other cases, the chat box may pop up automatically to engage with a customer. According to surveys, 70% of consumers prefer talking to a person rather than an automated system, and live chat has a high customer satisfaction rate of 90%.
Live chat, as opposed to chatbots, integrates the human touch within customer service in the face of automation and allows customers to get real-time response from live agents. In fact, a study conducted by Acquire found that approximately 63% of customers who accessed a website’s live chat will likely return back to the site, which is good for your sales!
5. Adopt An Omni-Channel Approach
In this digital age, customers hope to be able to search for products easily on company’s website, be able to compare prices, and see personal recommendations without entering information repeatedly. To do so, companies can adopt an omnichannel approach, a unified digital channel strategy that allows customers to experience a seamless experience whether shopping online from a mobile device, a laptop or in a brick-and-mortar store. AI supports this by learning customers’ preferences, collecting data and targeting the right advertisements at each touchpoint. According to Harvard Business Review, 73% of customers make use of multiple channels for research before a final purchase.
However, in order to achieve the most positive omnichannel experience, companies need to balance automated tools and agent experience. Having live agents that can serve the customer and deliver with the right tools, training, systems, and processes is considered a successful integration of human touch with the company’s digital presence. Companies should use open platforms that can integrate various functions seamlessly from customer relationship management to billing, and order management, so that agents can draw out every profile and interaction data when needed.
How Moovaz Can Help
In conclusion, while AI has a lot of potential to enhance customer experience in this digital age, it is integrating human touch that will make your company stand out from the noise of the Internet.
Here at Moovaz, we value human touch and position it as a core of our features. Our professionally-trained team of Relo Buddies are at your service to make sure every journey is smooth, first time, every time. Partner with us today to optimise the customer experience for your clients.
