From call centre software to chatbots: 5 tips for businesses planning their customer service strategies

Businesses are seeking ways to optimise their customer service and call centre operations to save costs while maintaining quality services and fostering customer loyalty. This article will analyse and provide insights into the current approaches and trends UK SMEs use to deliver their customer service experiences. 

In today’s highly competitive market, customer service operations can play pivotal roles in shaping brand reputation and fostering customer loyalty. As businesses seek solutions that can help them gain competitive advantages, emerging call centre technologies can help reshape how brands deliver customer experiences. 

These technologies encompass a range of innovative solutions, from advanced communication channels to artificial intelligence-driven automation. In the face of recent challenges, such as increasing customer expectations, rising competition, and the shift towards digital-first interactions, the role of call centre technologies has become more crucial than ever for brands seeking to differentiate themselves in the market. But before deploying technologies to optimise customer service performance, businesses should evaluate the demands their customers have and how they want to communicate with their favourite brands. 

Capterra surveyed 194 UK customer service professionals to explore current customer service trends. Based on this, we will provide five key insights to guide SMEs seeking to optimise their customer service and deliver a quality customer experience. The full methodology can be seen at the end of the article. 

#1 Businesses must provide diverse communication channels

Businesses can use a wide array of channels to provide customer service and some are more common than others. Among the various channels customers can utilise to interact with customer service representatives, email (86%) and live phone calls (85%) are the most available methods, according to the professionals we surveyed. Additionally, live chat and social media messages are gaining prominence for businesses too.

Companies are effectively using a combination of different methods and channels to interact with their customers. Offering multiple channels accommodates diverse customer preferences and provides varied routes for customers to contact and engage with brands. Consequently, businesses should continue to pursue other channels, besides traditional communication methods like email and phone calls, to cater to customer demands and keep up with new and emerging technologies.

#2 Prioritise efficiency to stay competitive

Efficiency is paramount in customer service operations. One way to guarantee this efficiency is to minimise wait times and issue resolution times. 

Even though 65% of customers typically wait less than five minutes before speaking with a live representative, the remaining 35% who have to wait longer may find their patience being tested.

The same applies for issue resolution. Although 29% of respondents claim their customer service team typically resolves issues in less than five minutes, the most common time frame is five to ten minutes (35%).

Some issues are more complex than others and require more time to resolve. However, SMEs must minimise wait times and expedite issue resolution while maintaining customer service quality and fostering positive experiences. Businesses should consequently evaluate whether steps can be taken to help agents answer these issues more quickly and allow them to have more time to respond to more demanding questions and tasks. 

#3 SMEs should be strategic in their staffing for enhanced customer service delivery

An indicator of the importance of customer service for businesses is whether companies seek to increase or decrease their investment in staffing for these services. According to surveyed customer service staff involved in budget and strategic initiatives, 57% of businesses plan to increase staff dedicated to customer service in the next 18 months.

Strategic staffing decisions and balancing cost-effectiveness with service quality are critical for SMEs. However, businesses should decide if hiring extra staff is the optimal solution based on their budget or the complexity of the queries they tend to receive. 

In some cases, it might make more sense for businesses to seek technology solutions and customer service tools instead of hiring extra staff for efficiency purposes. 

According to surveyed customer service staff, AI can fare better than humans in specific tasks, such as multiple language conversations (61%), analysing data and generating insights (58%) and avoiding biases (43%).

The Capterra 2023 AI Tools survey found that the majority of employees surveyed agree that generative AI saves them time and money and gives their company a competitive edge. This can be helpful for call centre management, as automated emails, conversational support and data analysis and insights can be aided by this technology. Furthermore, chatbots and other AI-driven solutions are scalable and help maintain a limited number of human agents available for more challenging tasks while providing automated assistance for simple queries. 

For those tasks that humans are considered to fare better in, such as evaluating performance, facilitating sales or resolving issues, businesses should focus on training and hiring specialised teams to optimise their performance in those areas.

#4 Businesses should weigh the pros and cons of external support

The choice between in-house, outsourced, or mixed customer service operations is a significant consideration for SMEs. 

Our survey reveals varying approaches, with the majority (62%) handling phone calls in-house. However, 27% of surveyed businesses outsource customer service calls partially, while 11% outsource all customer service phone calls to a third-party or call centre. 

This process, often called business process outsourcing (BPO), can be pursued for various reasons, such as optimising costs, accessing specialised expertise, or seeking temporary assistance during specific implementation processes. Interestingly, such is the allure of BPO, that from the group of respondents who exclusively handle phone calls in-house 32% are considering outsourcing resources to handle customer service operations and 12% already have formal plans in plans to do so.

#5 Externalised or in-house operations must be tied to data security and compliance

Companies can choose to use different strategies when getting external support for their projects or decide to keep their customer service in-house. If they opt for outsourcing their customer service, one element they need to consider is the location of their external partners.

Businesses can turn to offshore outsourcing, where companies hire individuals in other countries to handle tasks. Additionally, nearshore outsourcing refers to business processes that are outsourced to neighbouring countries for easier communication and cultural compatibility. For 47% of respondents that handle phone calls via outsource or hybrid outsourcing models, customer service agents are located in a different country than where their company is headquartered. 

Whether these companies ultimately choose to collaborate with third parties to carry out their customer service or decide to have their customer help teams employed in-house, SMEs must still prioritise data security and local GDPR compliance to safeguard customer information and maintain trust. 

Additionally, as SMEs handle sensitive customer information, data protection practices must be set in place to ensure the maintenance of regulatory compliance. 

Understanding the current approaches businesses take to their customer service strategies is key to evaluating how software can be used to optimise their call centres and customer service interactions. In the second part of our series on customer service technology, we will focus on the software businesses use to deliver quality services and explain how technology can make a difference to businesses.