StartupTalky

Tag: Customer Care

  • Top 10 Strategies for Omnichannel Marketing

    It is very much important for a company to manage all its marketing sources as a whole. The Omnichannel refers to brand interaction with its potential leads across various online and offline channels (such as social media, mobile, stores, etc.) intending to provide a seamless and consistent shopping experience throughout the customer’s journey.

    When it comes to the advantages of adopting omnichannel in your business, you could provide a seamless customer experience by giving customers a variety of options for convenient shopping, the ability to contact or shop at any channels for clearing house, and personalized services with closed deals only. This would ultimately increase brand recognition, customer loyalty and engagement, sales and revenue, and lower customer churn.

    What is Omnichannel Marketing?
    Best Omnichannel Marketing Strategies

    Brands Implementing Omnichannel Marketing

    What is Omnichannel Marketing?

    Omnichannel marketing is a business strategy that intends to promote a business on various channels including both online and offline modes.

    In simple terms, an omnichannel is a network that integrates all its business platforms and channels and transmits accurate messages. For instance, if your company is coming up with a  new product launch, offers, or advertising other business merchandise, you can share content and information about the message on social media platforms, websites, physical stores, and mobile devices, managed by your business.

    Share of Retailers who have Optimized Customer Journeys by Omnichannel Service Worldwide 2020
    Share of Retailers who have Optimized Customer Journeys by Omnichannel Service Worldwide 2020

    Best Omnichannel Marketing Strategies

    Nowadays, customers have more control over the buying process than they used to have before and omnichannel marketing simply intends to offer a seamless experience to the customers throughout their buying journey. The following are the top 10 omnichannel marketing strategies that will help you gain the best possible results for your business:

    Customer Journey Mapping

    One of the most important omnichannel marketing strategies is to map the journey of customers. Omnichannel is regarded as the best and most advantageous marketing strategy because it focuses more on the customer experience than it does on products and services. Businesses can easily post messages on various channels without any hassles and look after customer engagement at each stage of the user’s journey. Additionally, an omnichannel strategy promotes potential customers to continue around for a long time, which increases customer lifetime value by effectively focusing on that specific customer segment.

    Data Analysis

    A data-centric strategy is a key to omnichannel marketing, allowing you to learn more about your customers’ interest in your business, examining audience segmentation data such as their demographics, profiles, search data, and psychographic segmentation. Top-tier businesses use customer relationship management (CRM) software to gather information. Thus, using omnichannel marketing targets potential leads after studying a customer’s data and engaging with them across all channels.

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    Target Market Segmentation

    Omnichannel marketing can do wonders when implemented in the right manner. So, in order to achieve the best results, an important strategy is to target the right audience and their proper segmentation. One can create segments on a different basis like location, shopping behaviour, level of interaction, etc. One can also take advantage of automation to send messages to the target audience at the right time.

    Customer Care

    Correct customer assistance should not resemble a sales presentation. Consistency and comfort should always be prioritized in customer service interactions. Keep in mind that dealing with client complaints is a huge part of doing business. Your automated systems and channels should provide easy-to-use help options. System integration issues with your Omnichannel strategy are just as dire.  As a part of your customer service solutions, add live chat alternatives to your eCommerce websites and check that there is enough information available online. Some of the crucial pointers to improve customer service operations include:

    • Become more responsive on social media.
    • Help with live chat.
    • Automated emails.

    Focus On Customer Security

    Customers place high importance on the security of their data and payments, especially when that data is shared across large omnichannel networks. Every touchpoint is vulnerable to a diverse set of threats since there are many pathways, which means many weak spots. At every stage of a transaction, the risk of security breaches can be reduced by using a single platform through which all channels pass. Innovative security capabilities in ERP software allow it to evaluate consumer and business data as well as track every channel in real-time for unusual activity or other risks.

    Seamless Payment

    Issues with payments usually arise in the area of digital marketing. Use the appropriate payment gateways to prevent upsetting your customers. This takes into account the interval between the customer’s online order and actual store pickup.

    Equal Focus on Both Digital and Non-digital Channels

    Numerous businesses consider TV, radio, mail, and other analogue channels to be outdated mediums, but they might want to give them another look. This is because millennials say they are more interested in printed catalogues than customers have been for decades. A decent return may be achieved with well-target catalogue marketing. A great technique to reach a variety of demographics in omnichannel marketing is by publishing digital and print copies of a catalogue.

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    Determine the Strengths and Weaknesses of Each Channel

    Another important strategy for implementing omnichannel marketing is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each channel being used. Consider how advertising your products on social media can help customers buy more quickly over the phone or during a convenient conversation than they could do through limited-featured platforms like apps. Connect with your leads using a simple and pragmatic network channel, which has a good effect on your customer service strategy and eventually helps you turn leads into customers.

    Invest in the Right Technology and Focus On Mobile-Friendly Users

    The technological infrastructure that is currently in place frequently lacks the capabilities necessary for an efficient omnichannel approach. To ensure that decision-makers, chain managers and workers, retail staff, and customers are all working with the same information, businesses must be able to organise and monitor data from every channel. Make sure you can also analyse data acquired from various channels and create precise forecasts and what-if scenarios. Thus, another important strategy is to focus on mobile services, as today’s generation is highly dependent on their smartphones.

    Establish Trust

    In any industry, building a customer’s trust is essential. If they don’t believe in your company or your goods, everything will suffer. When it comes to digital marketing, consistency is crucial. It’s about improving user experience to the point that people can relate to and trust a brand name without thinking about it. Customers will stop trusting you if you cannot provide effective customer service to them.

    Brands Implementing Omnichannel Marketing

    Popular Brands Implementing Omnichannel Marketing
    Popular Brands Implementing Omnichannel Marketing

    There are several popular brands that have established a strong brand identity for themselves with the help of omnichannel marketing. Some of the prominent names include:

    Conclusion

    The way businesses operate has changed. It has been a groundbreaking marketing concept to use the internet to advertise businesses and goods. It’s crucial to maintain face-to-face and digital interactions, as well as a cohesive brand identity and user experience. The goal of omnichannel marketing is to achieve just that. A transition from a channel-centric strategy to a framework focused on the consumer is necessary to develop an omnichannel strategy. We hope that the ideas we’ve covered in this post about Omnichannel marketing will be helpful to you as you promote your business.

    FAQs

    What is an omnichannel marketing strategy?

    Omnichannel marketing strategy simply refers to the use of a combination of various channels (physical and digital) for customer interaction in order to create a strong brand presence.

    Is Starbucks an omni channel?

    Starbucks is one of the greatest examples of brands that have nailed the game of omnichannel marketing through its Rewards App.

    Why do consumers want omnichannel?

    Consumers prefer omnichannel because it helps them connect their in-store experiences with the digital market. For example- some people still do not trust online shopping so they prefer buying stuff from the store which they saw online.

  • Social Media Customer Service: Best Tricks and Tips

    The practice of using Social Media tools to resolve customer questions or concerns is known as social media customer service. Social customer support is extremely effective because it allows customers to reach out to your team on platforms that they already use. In terms of customer service, the utilization of social media is critical.

    The mutual benefits of ease of brand accessibility via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms allow for easy customer contact and engaging social activity, as well as brand building and broad contact across numerous platforms.

    The success of a brand depends on its ability to build relationships with customers through social media and how these channels are maintained. Sales, as well as Brand loyalty and Connection, can be influenced positively by social media. Even though social media was created primarily for personal use and to preserve personal contacts. It has evolved into a beneficial tool for building a community around brands as a result of its growth and popularity.

    Before the internet, the fastest and most effective way for customers to seek assistance from businesses was to make a phone call. Telephone calls had already surpassed the postal service as the quickest channel for customer service. After all, it’s called snail mail for a reason. Then came email, and the internet became the new destination for quick customer service. Social media interactions changed the game after we became used to email. With social media, you can connect with anyone in real-time, up to the second. That’s the new era of customer service innovation!

    Social media customer service takes advantage of established social media platforms’ immediate feedback systems. Furthermore, social media is a familiar place that customers use for a variety of other purposes, including connections with brands they enjoy.

    About Social Media Customer Care

    Developing a Plan

    Best Practises

    About Social Media Customer Care

    Social media customer care is a technique of offering customer help via social media platforms that is well-organized. It’s a vital and continuously expanding contact channel that complements call-based customer care in the overall customer service ecosystem.

    It includes assistance before, during, and after the transaction. Addressing complaints, providing advice, answering inquiries, and issuing refunds are all part of the job.

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    Developing a Plan

    Before you integrate social channels into your existing customer care operations, you’ll need a comprehensive social customer service strategy. A comprehensive social media strategy for customer service should include the following six key components:

    Establish Brand Monitoring

    The first step is to implement an active Brand Monitoring System on the social media platforms that your customers will use to contact you. You can do this easily with social media tools.

    Analyse Comments

    Determine what types of comments receive the most attention. Therefore, you won’t respond to only favorable feedback while ignoring negative feedback. The way you handle a negative review might sometimes help you gain new consumers.

    However, because social media isn’t a dedicated customer service channel, you’ll receive many more comments than your customer service personnel can handle. To deal with this, make a priority list so that your team can focus on the most pressing and vital concerns.

    Analyse the Comments you receive

    No to Late Replies

    Create a mechanism for quickly answering inquiries. With the speed of the internet, a late response might be as awful as no response at all. Your goal should be to respond to client questions as soon as possible. This needs a well-organized system with dedicated social customer service representatives.

    Customer Care Channel

    Consider establishing a specialized customer service channel. You can have a dedicated Customer Care Channel within the social media platforms in addition to having dedicated social customer support personnel. Customers who require assistance should be directed to your support profile via your social media sites.

    This will make it easier to track unique client requests and give a platform for customers to analyze previous requests that are similar to their own. Most importantly, having a distinct support channel will help you separate your social media content marketing and customer service operations.

    Manage Your Team

    Have the best internal practices for responses. Customer support isn’t just about solving customer issues. It’s a key tool in building your brand image. To achieve this, you need best internal practices that ensure your support team delights customers beyond solving their problems.

    Analyse Continuously

    Identify how you’ll track and report on your progress. It’s critical to track and report on your social customer service operations if you want to know how well you’re doing. Client satisfaction surveys can also be used to assess the quality of your customer service.

    The information you gather and the conclusions you reach can help you focus your efforts on areas that require more attention. Based on the volume of consumer inquiries, you may discover that you require more workers at certain times than at others.

    These steps can help you get the most out of your Social Media Customer Service. But let’s talk about the best practices that you should keep in mind.

    Best Practises

    Act Immediately

    If you quickly reply and resolve client complaints without diverting them to other channels. Your organization will acquire 3–20 percent more customer spending per interaction.

    Be Honest

    Just because your response time should be quick doesn’t mean you’ll be able to resolve all consumer issues quickly. Instead of making misleading promises, be honest with clients about how long it will take to handle their issues—even if that means accepting that you don’t know.

    Where to Answer

    Specific concerns must be settled in secret depending on the information involved. Determine whether to resolve complaints in public or private. If the process of resolving an issue will involve personal information, you can easily identify that this problem will require private resolution.

    As a result, your team should always keep track of such situations and urge clients to give the relevant personal information by direct message or email.

    Do not Ignore Queries

    Respond to all feedback, questions, and comments received via social media. If you don’t respond to any of your consumers’ concerns, you may never have another opportunity. Furthermore, such individuals may submit negative evaluations, making your organization appear untrustworthy to potential new customers.

    On social media, you must reply to any criticism, questions, and comments. Keep an eye on all of your mentions, check your direct messages (DMs), read your reviews, and keep track of any places where people are mentioning you.

    Use Names

    Use a person’s first name if feasible, and avoid being too scripted. It indicates that you are interested in learning who the client is, even if it just takes a few seconds to discover the client’s name.

    Respond Calmly

    Customers who have questions may be dissatisfied and frustrated. Keeping comments light and upbeat helps to steer conversations toward a satisfying conclusion rather than greater aggravation.

    Remember that you’re not simply dealing with your customers’ cognitive problems; you’re also dealing with their emotional states. However, the tone of your responses is determined by the tone of your clients’ inquiries.

    If a consumer speaks in a casual, amusing tone, respond in the same manner. If the customer’s tone is formal, your best bet is to respond in the same manner.

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    Conclusion

    Customers and businesses can benefit greatly from social media. Using it for customer service is just one of the many ways to assist any company or brand’s growth. Higher turnover results from effective strategies and careful management. Aside from taking advantage of the competitive advantage provided by social media customer service. Smart businesses are constantly monitoring and adopting new social media trends.

    Advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots will fundamentally alter how businesses handle support inquiries. The use of social media in customer service can have a significant impact on the success of your brand’s loyalty and advocacy. Using social media for customer service can take your digital community to the next level with the right preparation and listening tool.

    FAQs

    Is social media good for customer service?

    As the customers use social media to interact with friends and even with brands. Social Media is an excellent place for customer service. It should be used by brands for not only marketing but building a community.

    What are the benefits of Social Media Customer Service?

    Using social media customer service gives your customers easy access to your brand. As you respond to someone’s query in a positive solution that they need. It builds a positive brand image. Also, it is an opportunity for your brand to work on what customers need and update your product to what they want.

    How to handle Customer Service on Social Media?

    1. The response should be quick
    2. The response should be transparent and should not deviate from customers.
    3. Assess what problems are asked more and respond to them first.
    4. Try to respond to every query and be personal to show customers that they matter.
    5. Your answer should be friendly and optimistic.

  • 10 Tips To Communicate Effectively With Customers

    As we know, apart from earning a reasonable profit, corporates are obliged to satisfy customers’ needs and demands for timely services, which is another ultimate goal for any business.

    Providing customer services is very important in retaining existing as well as new leads to grow your business, which should be followed before, during, and after the purchase of your products, because in that way they would likely continue doing business with you.

    In simple terms, customer service is a support system offered by a business to its customers to bestow providential experiences. As a result, retaining existing and generating new leads can be easily done through effective customer services.

    For instance, when you are at a physical store, the staff or manager will come along with you till you make it to the billing counter. Yeah, that’s very much likely to customer services, where the staff or employers would leave your side and support you till the end and after the sales.

    Some businesses still lack in generating leads or sales, even though they topped every aspect of marketing strategies, but lack one thing and that is- Customer service.

    You will succeed in excellent communication abilities, only if the customer comes back to you and willing to make another purchase with your business. Customer service should be offered before, during, and after-sales to help customers and businesses form a trusting connection. As the expression goes, “communication is key,” thus it is critical in business to develop your customer network as well as enable potential customers’ trust in your company.

    Communication tips are essential for maintaining a bond. Irrespective of the relation, the bond can break or make depending on the method of communication. The same is applied in the business too. A few of the customer communication tips are explained below.

    1. Learn About Your Customers
    2. Use a Friendly and Positive Tone
    3. Make Your Customer Comfortable
    4. Become an Active Listener
    5. Adopt Chatbot and Tech Tools for Convenient Communications
    6. Avoid Interruptions
    7. Create the Conversation Interesting
    8. Be Patient While Talking to Customers
    9. Become a Problem Solver
    10. Collect Your Customer’s Feedback

    1. Learn About Your Customers

    Before commencing the sales process, the agent or business manager should know the whereabouts of the customers. Customers’ demands and wishes are satisfied by businesses based on their interests. Thereof, you should have a comprehensive list of your potential leads’ information, including their background, account credentials, creditworthiness, and so on.

    2. Use a Friendly and Positive Tone

    As the proverb goes, “politeness costs nothing but gains everything,” so converse in a kind tone and invite the other person to listen to you. Keep the conversation consistent, positive, participatory, and credible so that the listener (consumer) feels comfortable communicating with you.

    3. Make Your Customer Comfortable

    Your customer service is nothing more than a void conversation unless the customer is willing to leave their comfort zone. Start with inquiring about anything that interests them, such as “what is your favourite part of the day?” or “What do you do for a living?” Notably, do not interpret while your consumer is speaking or saying something; instead, let some time and space for the discomfort to subside.

    4. Become an Active Listener

    Listening and paying attention to the customers is one of the most important parts involved in customer service. Listen attentively during conversations to ensure you don’t miss anything they’re interested in.

    Make sure you comprehend everything in the customer’s communication by reading it attentively. Reiterate the problem as you see it now, and provide the consumer with the opportunity to contribute their thoughts. When your employees see that you are listening and engaging with them, they will feel cared for.

    Predicted uses of Chatbots for increasing customer experiences
    Predicted uses of Chatbots for increasing customer experiences

    5. Adopt Chatbot and Tech Tools for Convenient Communications

    One of the leading causes of customer support dissatisfaction is delayed response. Every month, some new technology is introduced to the world that makes it even easier to assist the consumers such as the use of ChatBots.

    Co-browsing and live chat debugging tools might make it much easier for your customers to communicate their issues. It also expedites the resolution. If your customer can simply show you the problem instead of explaining, that makes it easy on both your team and the person who is reaching out.

    6. Avoid Interruptions

    According to McKinsey, a customer’s emotional state influences 70% of their journey. As a result, ensure there are no interruptions in the middle of the talk. Avert bombarding clients with numerous inquiries before enabling them to react.

    Casting massive pre-written saved responses faster than your clients can skim is not a promising impression. When you rely too heavily on your saved responses, you end up ludicrous. AI help needs to write and communicate at the same speed as a human would.

    7. Create the Conversation Interesting

    Ask your customers how they are feeling. If the customer gives you the insights, make sure of listening attentively to them. Insights can provide a general idea of what a customer is looking for currently.

    Sometimes, customer insights can also show the working of the product and its success rate. Always be prepared to ask customers their personal insights in basic communication.

    8. Be Patient While Talking to Customers

    Customers contact you because they are unsure of what they are doing. When clients encounter a technological issue, they may believe they are less skilled than the person who can solve it.

    Even if they are needlessly contentious, be patient with your consumers and endeavour to discern where they are coming from. If it’s the assistance they want, no one likes to be nudged into something. Empower them with all the data they expect, be helpful, and give them authority over their conclusions for improved customer service.

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    9. Become a Problem Solver

    Always speak slowly and deliberately, both you and your employees. This step will help you evade dilemmas and reply to client questions before they originate. Use upbeat language to show that you care about their concerns and are capable and eager to help them solve challenges. Pessimistic words stifle growth and jeopardize customer confidence. Customers should feel like they’re a facet of the expedition relatively more than just another phone call, email, or chat session.

    10. Collect Your Customer’s Feedback

    Take advantage of any chance to collect reviews from your clients during customer support conversations. This information can help you figure out how to best serve them. Using surveys to gain the customer’s feedback is the most trusted and highly used tactic.

    Allow your customers to complete a brief survey after each customer support contact or chat so you can obtain fast feedback on how you’re performing. This information can assist you in improving your tactics and providing better service to your clients.

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    Conclusion

    If you want your business to prosper, you must develop brand wealth with your clients. Customer Service can consider an important triggering factor for customer review and sales. You can try to deliver the best customer service by just being deliberate. We have provided some directions to assist you in constructing it.

    FAQs

    What is meant by customer service?

    Customer service stands for the additional help provided by the company to its customers.

    AI Chatbots that can help in customer service are?

    Some of the most commonly used AI Chatbots in customer service are ChatBot, Clare.AI, NanoRep, Twyla, etc.

    Which tools are best to use for customer service?

    Some of the helpful customer service tools are Messagely, Intercom, Help Scout, Hubspot Servicehub, etc.

  • 15 Reasons Why Startups Should Focus on Customer Care and Support

    Startup businesses should focus on customer care for the benefit of the business wellness, as well as consumer relationships. Customer care and support should be authentic rather than a business front. When customer care is authentic, consumers help in positively building your brand and business. Here are 15 reasons why startup businesses should also focus on customer care and support.

    Positive Branding

    The brand of your startup is anchored in many factors including how well you interact with your consumers. A startup that is available for consumer queries and feedbacks, efficiently responds and resolves issues, and is reliable is one that is on its way to positive branding. As a startup, you must look into ways that your communication is always open for consumers. One way of doing so is investing in gadgets that make for efficient communication as shown on Call Cowboy.

    Form Relationships

    As a startup, you are still in the stages of building a strong clientele base. Customer care and support is one of the ways that you can build rapport with potential consumers. If you provide a pleasant experience for the consumers, they are likely to use your services repetitively in the future. However, if potential clients feel as if there is neglect and a nonchalant attitude towards them, they may be forced to take their interests to your competitor who might provide better service than you may have.

    Maintain Relationships

    Once you have formed a rapport with consumers and clients, you must maintain these by
    continuing with the quality care that you had provided in the beginning. This means that you have to be available and ready to help when a consumer requires this. As a startup,
    separating your business from your personal life may prove challenging to begin with, but
    technology such as auto dialer , are there to help you. In some cases, it isn’t that you don’t
    care for your consumers, it’s the juggling of priorities that you may find difficult to balance.

    Business Referrals

    Consumers that are satisfied with customer care and support will market your business for
    you. They will spread the word to other potential clients, and before you know it, people will be eager to try out your service product simply because of the positive interaction you had with other clients. Negative interactions with consumers will equally market your business however, in a negative manner. Customer care has a ripple effect, which can both be negative and positive, which is why it is important to focus on this and provide quality care.

    Care Builds Trust

    Current and potential consumers need to be assured that you will deliver on what you
    promised. Sounding polite when interacting with consumers but immediately forgetting what you said you would deliver counts as negative customer care. Customer care goes beyond what you say or how you say it, and translates into delivering on your word. If consumers get the sense that their needs aren’t met by your startup, they might revert to the service product they engaged before trying yours. Make sure to build and strengthen trust with your consumers by sticking to your word.

    Employee Satisfaction

    Satisfied consumers translate to satisfied employees. Employees who are constantly hearing grumbles and complaints from consumers, quickly become demotivated. A demotivated team can slow down production and productivity, leading to low business profits. The more positive reviews your startup receives regarding customer care and support, the more motivated your staff is to continue to deliver on all business levels.

    Less Crisis Reputation Management

    The digital era has put all service providers in the limelight regarding operations. One
    negative customer care approach can result in your startup negatively trending on social
    media. Social media has the power to destroy brands, and has done so before. If your startup becomes entangled in negative social media, you will have to spend time and money
    engaging crisis reputation management. This not only steers you away from productivity
    time, but can also cost your company financially.

    Business Longevity

    Your startup may deliver the best service product among competitors – however, poor
    quality customer care may bring your business to a halt. You must make sure that quality
    customer care is embedded into your company culture for longevity. If only one employee is revered for the high-quality customer support provided, if they are to leave the company,
    clients may also leave with them. However, if your whole company agrees that customer care must be second nature regardless of the position held, you company stands a chance of longevity.

    Increased Revenues

    The point of your startup is to provide quality service products while making profits.
    Satisfied customers make repeat purchases, which in turn increase business revenues. Once-off purchases that resulted in poor quality customer care are the ones that can bring your startup to a plateau of breaking even, or incurring losses.

    Customers Reward Good Customer Support

    Your startup needs the support of the community. If consumers appreciate the customer care that is provided, they help you grow your network. For example, if your startup is one that provides food and beverages, a consumer who works in the corporate space may nominate your business to provide services at the company’s year-end party – all because of the positive customer support your business provided the corporate official. Your brand grows through such networking and nomination opportunities.

    More Expensive to Get New Consumers

    Its more expensive to get new customers than it is to retain the loyal customers. If your start- up begins to slack on customer care towards the loyal customers, you will have to start the process of attracting new consumers all over again. This means having to go back to the drawing board and building a network, revisiting marketing strategies, crisis management from losing customers, and mapping a way forward of how to retain the new consumers acquired. It’s relatively easy to begin taking for granted the loyal consumers who you may mistakenly assume won’t leave in search for better customer support. You must always revisit customer feedback and support strategies regarding your loyal consumers to make sure that you don’t risk losing them.

    Service Product Improvement

    Quality customer care and support open channels of communication between you and your
    consumers. Open channels of communication mean you may receive information regarding
    your service product from your consumers. The insight that you may receive can help you
    determine factors such as competitor strategies, product fault and consumer satisfaction. Such information makes it possible for you to improve on your service product. Failing to do so can result in a drop in sales which could have been avoided by opening up channels of communication.

    Consumers are Willing to Pay More

    Satisfied consumers may be willing to pay more for your service product if they feel as if
    they have been handled with quality care. Many are understanding about the processes
    involved in a startup, and are willing to go the extra mile to support your business. This is
    only possible if consumers feel appreciated by the way that you interact with them. You may just find consumers who insist that you keep the change, or pay for more than the state price if you treat consumers with quality care. Keep in mind that customer service should be authentic at all times without sinister intentions.

    Quality Customer Service is a Competitive Advantage

    The difference between your business’s success and your competitor’s could be in the quality of customer support. Consumers can opt to engage in service products that are rated lower than a competitor, simply because of the purchasing experience that is provided. You may be wondering how to out-do a competitor who has been standing for decades, consider providing excellent customer care and support as one of your competitive brand signatures.

    Accolades and Awards

    Genuine customer care can land your start up with accolades and awards that help your
    positive brand image. When consumers consider to engage in your service products, they
    may do a review sweep about your company. If you have accolades and awards, it instills
    confidence in forming a rapport with your business.

    Conclusion

    To conclude, investing in customer care equipment and processes is just as important as
    investing in your capital startup. Quality customer care results in positive branding, forming of consumer relationships, maintaining existing relationships, encourages business referrals, builds consumer trust, and instills consumer satisfaction.
    Your startup also spends less on firefighting poor-quality service and doesn’t have to invest in crisis reputation management. Quality customer care also means you increase your business longevity, increase revenue, encourage customer support, improves service product, consumers are willing to pay more, you get a competitive advantage, and you can win accolades and awards.

    Keep in mind that quality customer care is authentic and doesn’t harbour intentions such as
    merely increasing profits. Consumers can tell whether your startup is genuine or not.

  • Everything You Need to Know About Toll-Free Service Providers

    You have a business or a startup or maybe just handling your family store, then you must always think about customers. Business is everything about customers. So, why don’t do anything extra for them?

    Toll-free numbers are not that tough to get. And als o not that expensive too. However, it is the age of “everything for free”. Everyone has a free unlimited calling on their phones. But, giving toll-free number is not all about making it free. It is also about valuing your customers. Toll-free service providers make this job much easier. But there are so many service providers out there. You cannot just roll a dice and pick one up. You have to learn everything about this field. But we value your time, so here is everything in as brief as we could make it.

    Who Are Toll-Free Service Providers?

    To get the number registered and usable by your customers, there are companies that help you in this process. There are so many companies that do this. You can even choose an international company for this. In case, you don’t trust any companies, you can also go for companies like Tata Teleservices.

    Companies nowadays also provide additional services besides giving a toll-free number. Like cloud telecommunication, which is a service that lets you access your toll-free number from anywhere in the world along with SMS and WhatsApp support. While buying the plan, you have to let them know how many incoming calls do you expect. Also, how many of your people will be there to serve the calls.

    What Are Vanity Number?

    Ever received a message from our Hon’ble PM N. Modi from a number like “JG-PM Modi”. This same number is called a vanity number. You can customize them according to your needs. They are very helpful when you want to send bulk messages for promotion purposes. Remember those old-school phones? To type “Hi”, we used to press 4 two times and again 4 three times. This system works on the same concept.

    Also read: TruePush- Free Forever Push Notifications

    Tips To Choose A Toll-Free Service Providers

    While choosing your toll-free service provider, make sure you ask about the following things to the provider.

    How to choose toll free number service provider?
    How to choose toll free number service provider?

    ResOrg

    ResOrg stands for Responsible Organisation. It is the certification standard for toll-free number providers. Make sure whichever company you choose, they are ResOrg.

    Fail over Protection

    These all are a piece of machines. You cannot say when will they fail. So, in situations when the system fails, some companies give failover protection. When anything goes wrong, the primary network automatically switches to the redundant network. And no calls get missed.

    Additional Charges

    This is in every field nowadays. They say this product is free, you only have to pay for shipping and the shipping charges turn out to be more than the product’s price. Ask them about any additional charges and if possible record it.

    Portability

    Make sure you don’t forget this one. Ask them about the portability of their number. Do they offer it? If that toll-free service provider is Responsible Organisation, then there are strong chances they provide number portability.

    Reasons To Get A Toll Free Number

    This is 2020. Most of the people have unlimited call plans. You may ask, nobody cares about toll-free these days. Let’s burst your bubble.

    Reasons to get a toll free number
    Reasons to get a toll free number

    Easy To Remember

    Toll-free numbers are much easier to remember than any other ordinary numbers. If your number is short or if you have a vanity number, then people are more likely to call you.

    Looks More Professional

    These numbers make you look more professional in your market. People will think that you are very serious about your business, which is true. More professionalism means more sales, means more profit.

    Increase Satisfaction

    When the customers will have a separate line to get listened to from even a small store, they will be much more satisfied than anyone else. Customers want attention. So, toll-free numbers which are especially for them will give them attention.

    No Need Of Separate Department

    Nowadays, you don’t need a separate department for customer service. In fact, you don’t even need a separate business phone. You can do anything from your personal mobile phone. You can talk to them from anywhere. The technology is advanced so your business should be too.

    We think these reasons are enough to let you decide about it.

    Relevant read: Examples of Great Customer Service

    Which Toll-Free Service Providers Should You “Not” Go For?

    Although you already know that you should not go for any toll-free service providers who are not ResOrg, there are some more things to know. Getting a toll free number is not a game. You have to take it seriously. There are many fraud companies who provide toll-free numbers.

    You have to research well about each and every option. The best thing you can do before deciding the company is to search for the company on consumer complaint websites. Make sure there are no or fewer complaints about that company. Moreover, you can search about them on forums and social media like Quora where people share their own experience.

    One of the best examples of these types of companies is Sarv.com. Their website is damn amazing. But when we researched deeply about them, it turned out there were many complaints against them. Also, if there is a chat option available on any website, then don’t hesitate to use it. But don’t give them your details. When we asked about the services of Sarv.com on their chat option, they didn’t even know about their own potential. So, please read, research and observe companies before making your final decision.

    If you want some genuine names, then you can also go for companies like Tata Teleservices and Knowlarity. You can also opt for MyOperator. But, whichever you choose, just research well and if possible ask about it from the old users.

    Conclusion

    Toll-free service providers can be fraud or genuine, but a toll-free number will always be your best friend in the business. It will help you to grow your business. So, don’t think too much to have it in your office, or at your store. If you have customers, you will definitely need a toll free number.

    Any customer calls to customer care, mostly in emergency situations, and the emergency might be “no recharge”. I know, I’m talking to another level, but the truth is, toll-free numbers are really important. So, call toll free service providers now, and get the details.

    Comment on the use of toll-free in your business in the comment down below.

  • Observe.AI – This AI-Powered Agent Will Take Your Operational Efficiency To Next Level

    With all the buzz about the modern technology with AI and VR that seem to be taking the world by surprise one after another, it has become imperative for companies to keep up with these trends and make the most of it. To sufficiently provide a solution to this, Akash Singh, Sharath Keshava Narayana, and Swapnil Jain launched Observe. AI in 2017.

    Observe.AI is an AI-powered agent enablement platform for voice customer service. Leveraging the latest speech and natural language processing technologies, Observe.AI enables organizations to quickly analyze 100% of calls. With Observe.AI, support teams improve call quality, monitor compliance, and coach agents into top performers. Observe.AI’s main aim is to transform the $300B voice customer service industry by turning every agent into your best brand representative through AI-based insights and coaching. In a digital world, agents provide a rare opportunity to humanize brands and improve the customer experience, Observe.AI wants to accomplish this through this venture.

    Startup Name Observe.AI
    Headquarter San Francisco, CA
    Sector Analytics, Voice AI
    Founders Akash Singh, Sharath Keshava Narayana, Swapnil Jain
    Founded 2017
    Parent Organization Z21 Labs
    Website www.observe.ai

    About Observe.AI and How it Works
    Observe.AI – USP and Innovation
    Observe.AI – Target Market Size
    Founders of Observe.AI and team
    How was Observe.AI Started?
    Observe.AI – Name, Tagline, and Logo
    Observe.AI – Startup Launch
    Observe.AI – Funding and Investors
    Observe.AI – Advisors and Mentors
    Observe.AI – Growth

    About Observe.AI and How it Works

    Observe.AI' Dashboard & Features
    Observe.AI’ Dashboard & Features

    Observe.AI is a Voice AI platform that transcribes and analyzes 100% of voice customer service calls by using the latest Speech Recognition, Natural Language Processing, and deep learning technologies. This solves several problems for Contact Centers:

    • Fixing a broken Quality Assurance system: On average, only .003% of calls are reviewed for quality and compliance purposes. With Observe.AI, 100% of calls are analyzed. Additionally, with Voice AI call scoring is objective and data-driven (rather than randomly selecting calls to review, which is how the process works today).
    • Compliance & Security: The platform automatically identifies violations in compliance. Additionally, features like automatic PII redaction protect sensitive user data.
    • Targeted agent enablement and coaching: Voice AI enables supervisors to provide targeted, data-driven feedback to agents. On average, our customers provide 10X more feedback to agents per MO and have reduced onboarding time by more than 20%.
    • Operational improvements: With Voice, AI companies improve key contact center metrics, such as improving CSAT (5%); lowering Average Hold Time; lowering Dead Air; and improving the Quality Analyst to Agent ratio
    • Understanding the VoC to improve Customer Experience: Sentiment analysis via Voice AI helps companies understand how customers feel about the support experience and its products/services with objective proof.

    Also Read: 13 Tips To Make A Video Ad To Pump Up Your Sales

    Observe.AI – USP and Innovation

    Legacy speech analytics and talent management systems are simply not meeting the needs of the world’s top brands. Today’s Voice Customer Service agents have a unique ability to emotionally connect with customers and are often a brand’s only frontline representatives. Observe.AI strives to turn every agent into the best possible brand representative through AI-based insights and coaching. The prime USP’s of Observe.AI include:

    • Built for Contact Centers: We offer the highest transcription accuracy in the Contact Center Space (80%, which is higher than Google and Amazon for Contact Centers). We’ve built our entire Platform around the Contact Center use case.
    • Rapid integration: We are the quickest solution to go live in the Speech Analytics Contact Center industry. Our customers go live in just two weeks and we offer one-click integration with Talkdesk in an industry where it can take 3MO+ just to get up and running.
    • Proprietary SpeechNLP: Our engineering and Machine Learning teams have rolled out some truly ground-breaking features for Sentiment Detection, Silence Detection, and automated Redaction on calls.

    Observe.AI – Target Market Size

    • Industry: Voice Customer Service
    • Target Market Size: $300B

    Advancements in Natural Language Processing, Speech Recognition, and deep learning will only continue to dramatically improve. This will increase transcription accuracy while opening up new opportunities to automate tedious processes, such as compliance tracking and quality evaluations. It will also open up new opportunities to augment agents with conversational insights on live calls in 2020.

    With these advancements, support teams will be able to use Voice AI more efficiently and intuitively than ever immediately putting the data to practical use. With more voice data, support teams will be able to better understand performance trends and make predictions. New integrations and alliances will also help teams leverage learnings from Voice AI across other channels, including email and chat.

    Also Read: Should You Have Pop-ups On Your Website?

    Founders of Observe.AI and team

    Founders of Observe.AI
    Founders of Observe.AI
    • Swapnil Jain, Co-founder & CEO: Swapnil is an IIT Delhi graduate and comes with a strong technology background. Before Observe.AI, he led user growth at Twitter and opened Twitter’s India office. As CEO at Observe.AI, he focuses on product innovation.
    • Sharath Keshavanarayana, Co-founder & CRO: Sharath is a second-time entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience in building and managing global sales teams at Unbxd, AWS, and Akamai. As the CRO at Observe.AI, he focuses on go-to-market functions, such as sales, marketing, and Customer Success.
    • Akash Singh, Co-founder & CTO: Akash is an IIT Delhi graduate and has both high-tech and startup experience. He works from Bengaluru and manages the engineering team.

    How was Observe.AI Started?

    In 2017, the co-founders Swapnil and Akash had a hunch that advancements in Speech, Natural Language Processing, and AI were opening up new opportunities across every industry and vertical. When they took a trip to the Philippines, these two entrepreneurs happened to realized that they could use these technologies to transform the way work is done by the world’s 100M contact center agents.

    In 2017, they brought in co-founder Sharath who has many years of experience working in Contact Center software. During an early trip to Manila, they were shocked to see how inefficient agents were working because of outdated processes and technologies. That’s because Contact Centers typically quality check just 1-2% of their total calls. That means agents, who take an average of 1000 calls per month, only receive feedback on 2-4 of those calls each month that are typically randomly selected.

    In the Philippines, the co-founders saw that many teams were using multiple systems and spreadsheets just to quality check a single call. At a time when 1 out of every 2 customers goes unsatisfied with their experience, they knew there was a massive opportunity to make life better for both Contact Center employees and their customers. And hence they validated the idea for Observe.AI when the co-founders landed their first 100 clients and drove multi-million revenue in 9MO

    Observe.AI's Logo
    Observe.AI’s Logo

    The tagline of Observe.AI is “Turn every agent into your best brand representative with Voice AI.” That’s because the ventures believe that agents are the voice of the brand, and they interact with customers and prospects more often than anyone else at an organization.

    Also Read: How to Get The Much-Needed Initial Traction For Your Startup

    Observe.AI – Startup Launch

    Observe.AI is a product-centric company, and it has built a world-class AI Platform. The numbers don’t lie and this AI-powered agent happens to have an 80% transcription accuracy (vs. industry-average 75%), 80% silence detection (vs 72%), and 87% sentiment analysis (vs. 78%).

    “We also take onboarding and customer success very seriously. We get our customers to live quicker than anyone else in our industry (two weeks versus the typical 3MO) and offer dedicated onboarding, Customer Service, and ongoing training.” Said one of the co-founder – Swapnil.

    Finally, Observe.AI has the unique advantage of having built several alliances early-on with companies like Talkdesk, Microsoft, and leading BPOs (ERCBPO and ItelBPO).

    Observe.AI – Funding and Investors

    Over the years, Observe.AI has raised a huge amount of funding. In August 2017, it raised $ 900K in the pre-seed round from Emergent Ventures. Again in January 2018, it raised an amount in the same round worth $120K from Y Combinator. Nexus Venture partners invested $7.1 Million in the seed round in May 2018. Recently in December 2019, it raised Series A funding worth $26.2 Million from Scale Venture Partners.

    Date Stage Amount Investor
    August 2017 Pre-Seed $900k Emergent Ventures
    January 2018 Pre-Seed $120k Y Combinator
    May 2018 Seed $7.1 Million Nexus Venture
    January 2018 Series A $26.2 Million Scale Venture Partners

    Observe.AI – Advisors and Mentors

    • Andy Vitus, Partner, Scale Venture Partners
    • Jishnu Bhattacharjee, Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners
    • Dick Costolo, Founder 01 Advisors, / Ex-CEO Twitter

    Also Read: Success Story of Knowlarity- The First Ever Cloud Telephony Venture of India!

    Observe.AI – Growth

    • Company size: 52
    • Work culture: Observe.AI has built one of the most diverse teams in the Bay Area and have a global culture that spans San Francisco, Bangalore, and Dallas, Texas. Two of the company values are trust and transparency. Critical information about the business and learning is shared at every level, and the top-level management trusts every employee to make the best decisions in their role/own their responsibilities.
    • Hiring: Observe.AI is hiring for roles across every department in our Bengaluru, San Francisco, and future Dallas office.
    • Funding: With the recent $26 Million Series A round, the total funding stands at $34.3M.