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John F. Kennedy once famously said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” This aphorism, or, the flip side of it rings true today. Though Kennedy is not witness to the global economic upheaval in 2020, one thing is indisputable. The tide has receded today, and the fault lines in every industry are laid bare. It’s not a pretty picture. Telecommunications is one of the biggest industries to be overwhelmed by this global disruption. Major telecom players around the world are trying to make sense of how to deliver value, retain customers and improve revenue, at least in a post-pandemic world.
We witnessed how telecom services suddenly became so vital to a world under lockdown. The physical meetings were replaced by virtual meetings. Office-goers turned to WFH to earn their daily bread, and the reliance on telecom service providers became more important than ever. But let’s be honest; most of the telecom players were not prepared for it. Hence there were significant disruptions in customer service, and this has got the top telecom bosses scratch their collective heads in dismay. Conversational AI, automation, and analytics could have saved the day. But it’s not too late, either. So, let’s get started.
It starts with a Conversational AI chatbot
Let’s accept the fact. Almost every telecom player today has deployed a chatbot or a voice bot for customer service and support. But how effective are these chatbots is a different question altogether. Today customers are short on time, and they want to resolve queries at lightning speeds. But they also demand meaningful resolution of their queries and this means some archaic chatbot that does not understand context, or their true intent is out of the question.
So merely having a chatbot for the sake of it won’t cut. Customers expect to talk to a conversational AI bot, just like they hold a conversation with a human. Your bot needs to be sophisticated, should understand contexts, decipher the natural language, and even understand human emotions and sentiments. A conversational assistant based on real AI, sentiment analysis, real-intent detection, NLP, is a good start. Learn more here.
Your customer service needs an overhaul
How often have you stumbled upon a tweet by disgruntled telecom customers going online to rant about inadequate customer support? It happens all the time, right. Historically, telcos have always struggled to keep up with customer expectations. The onset of the pandemic exacerbates this problem. The phrase “on hold with” is one of the most used complaints on Twitter by frustrated customers to vent out their anger against some big telecom player.
What these telecom players need to understand is that bad customer service translates into lost revenue. This lost revenue might not be because of a rival telco winning over your customers, but it could be someone from a different industry eating your pie – like the WhatsApp’s and the Zoom’s of the world. Think about it.
Now would be a good time to equip your customer support with the right tools and technology to understand your customer problems and give them the solutions that they are seeking. You can start with something as simple as having a conversational automation and analytics software to augment your contact center agent capabilities. Support your agents with real-time alerts and notifications, and deflect FAQs from live agents with AI and automation. Conversational analytics can do much needed after-call work and glean insights from customer conversations, which are pure gold from a business standpoint. These are just some benefits of conversational AI and automation in your contact centers.
Save costs and improve business revenue
AI and automation can help you categorize calls based on customer profiles and based on what they are saying in real-time. You can save valuable time and money by routing calls intelligently and offering customers the right solution in the shortest time. You can even customize your customer service and support to meet the specific needs of a customer thanks to advanced analytics and automation working in the background. Conversational AI solutions can detect customer behavioral patterns, their content preferences, and thus help customers with the right solutions that they are seeking. You even get a chance to cross-sell and upsell thanks to tons of insights that these conversational AI systems generate. It could be as simple as recommending a personalized data package, partner services subscription, similar products, upgrade to a better product, or even generating a new lead for the sales team. The upside is limitless.
All this could directly translate into better customer service, higher revenue, improved customer lifetime value, and even a stronger brand recall. Ultimately, what you get are loyal customers for life who are ready to trust your brand and spend more money with you for a very long time. Ultimately, your revenues are going through the roof while your customers are happy that you are genuinely listening to the voice of the customer. Now that’s a win-win situation any telecommunications company worth its salt would want to be in, right!
Learn more about how Uniphore can help your telecom company improve customer service and boost revenues with the right conversational AI solutions.