Customer Service: Exit Voice, Enter Chat

Making our lives easier than ever, the internet has transformed our ability to transact and access information. However, it is yet to provide a solution for the disconnect between the person seeking and the one providing information over the medium. Since customization has become the key to success in highly competitive markets, customers now demand individual attention and dig deep into the nitty-gritties. All this, at a time of their choosing.

Enter chatting as an online tool. Here are some reasons to prove that chat is the way to go if you are keen on establishing long lasting relations with your consumers.

Mobile is the way to go!

If you have finally decided to go for chat, mobile first would be a good and safe choice. The consumer is evolving very quickly. The mobile is fast becoming the device of choice when it comes to time spent online. The flexibility to access information from anywhere, anytime has made the consumer aware and a little impatient. The consumer can connect with the brands on his/her smartphone making it a real time 24X7 battle for the brands. As per a survey conducted by Akosha, 64% of new-age customers prefer chat over voice, pointing towards the need of chat apps. Of course, it makes more sense for brands to be on a chat platform that aggregates multiple brands and lets the consumers talk to them through a single app itself.

Chat is simpler than you think

Chat is relatively easy to set up, man and operate – both on a desktop and mobile. Third party apps like the Akosha app are easy to install and use. One can use the existing infrastructure to integrate with existing IT. The chat process is 20 times cheaper than voice-based customer support and is considered much more comfortable than a voice call.

Chat apps are a great way to reach out

Chat apps can reach out to the customers faster and make the experience much more personalised. Use of multimedia like emoticons, stickers, GIFs, videos, photos, etc make the conversation more comfortable for both the parties. It also allows brands to carry out multiple format conversations like 1:1, 1:N, etc.

Convert interest to business

A chat app is an excellent way to convert interest into business for a brand. They offer convenience to interact and make things really easy for consumers who might be interested in what the brand has to offer. A brief chat can clear out the consumer's doubts and can assist a consumer in making the right choice for her.

Informed and Improved decision making

As per the BCG report, by 2018, 200 million individuals and SMEs will connect and perform online transactions in India. Consumers will be making purchase decisions on the basis of information gathered over the virtual mediums. The reports also revealed that around 15 percent of urban consumers check for information online before making a buying decision. Since the authenticity of information on the internet cannot be verified, it becomes too risky to let potential customers get exposed to incorrect information and form perceptions. To safeguard the interest of both the brand and the consumer, a certain amount of hand holding is required. Chat enables a business to inform customers about their products and services and at the same time entice a customer during the decision-making process.

Build relationships

Chat enjoys the benefit of establishing relationships between the consumers and the brands. The conversations are extended beyond mere complaints and inquiries. Importantly, a brand’s language and key attributes can be integrated far better on a chat than voice, which can be coloured by so many factors in a diverse country like India.

Be proactive, not reactive

The present scenario of customer service in India is reactive. People contact the brand whenever they face an issue or want solutions to a problem. But over the past five years, real-time customer service has gained more importance. There is a need for brands to identify the problem even before the consumer realises its existence. In the next two years, mobile along with chat messages is going to redefine the interaction between consumer and business. Data captured on a chat is more easily searchable, enabling a brand to get faster insights from data built around chats with their customers.

The Akosha app connects consumers with experts and businesses for queries related to any brand or service. India's only enterprise grade customer support app, the Akosha Mobile App has been built for scale. Enhancing accountability, building an extensive knowledge base, personalizing customer experience with the help of saved advanced customer history and monitoring various metrics are the key features of this app.