The Customer Support Experience Has Gone Mobile

Customers today are using mobile channels such as voice, chat, video, apps, and more to not only communicate with one another but with the brands and products that they love. However, while many organizations have explored these channels in terms of sales and marketing, mobile customer support has traditionally fallen behind. Until now, says Anand Janefalkar, Chief Executive Officer, UJET.

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The shift towards mobile has officially come and gone. It’s no longer a trend now, it is simply the standard. Smartphones, tablets, wearables, and internet-of-things (IoT) enabled devices have put the internet directly at our fingertips. With global mobile and tablet internet usage exceeding desktop, companies have realized that in many cases, the first interaction they’re having with customers is likely taking place on a mobile device.

As mobile has become the primary touchpoint for customer communications, companies have made serious investments in order to optimize their product, app, website, and more, for mobile devices and channels. Marketers have also emphasized mobile when creating and executing campaigns, messaging, and more. In today’s landscape, if mobile is not at the focal point of what you’re doing, you’re likely falling behind.

While significant investments have been made in developing mobile websites and apps, mobile marketing and more, one area that has traditionally lagged behind has been customer support. Take mobile banking, for example. Today, you can deposit cheques, transfer funds, pay bills, and find the nearest brick-and-mortar location—all from your mobile device. However, if you need support, odds are that you’re still searching for and dialing a 1-800 number, put on hold, asked to repeat your information and problem, only to be transferred to another agent where you have to repeat yourself all over again.

In today’s hyper-competitive market, customer expectations are high. Creating a seamless and efficient customer support experience between desktop and device can play an integral role in keeping customers happy, engaged, and coming back.

Also Read: The Conversational Experience: Why It’s Key to the Brand Experience

Customer Experience Matters

Customers today have shown that having a great product at an affordable price is simply no longer enough. In fact, according to the 2019 State of Service report by Salesforce, 80% of customers now consider experience with a company to be as important as its products. And there are very real financial impacts as well as 57% of customers have stopped buying from a company because a competitor provided a better experience.

However, for most brands, optimizing the customer experience and customer journey, specifically for mobile website or apps, starts and ends with creating a seamless experience centered around the purchase. What many fail to realize is that creating a path of least resistance for mobile customer support can significantly increase customer satisfaction and be critical for customer retention and loyalty. 

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Keeping Up With Your Customers

As mobile has become the standard, it has opened up new channels and access points that your customers now have with your product and brand. In fact, the average customer now uses 10 different channels to communicate with companies. Between the phone, web, and even mobile apps, customers expect to be able to seamlessly connect and move from channel to channel without impacting their experience. Customer support expectations are no different.

In order to keep pace with customers today, companies must be optimizing all of their channels with customer support in mind. This not only makes the experience better for your customers, but can significantly help support agents more easily identify problems and find resolutions faster. For example, today, customers communicate with each other by sending photos, videos, texts, and more. It is only natural that they should be able to do the same during a support experience. Empowering customers to leverage the channels and functionality of their smartphones by sending agents photos, videos, and other types of content can help to give agents a better understanding of why customers are contacting support.

Also Read: Your Customers Are Talking, Are You Listening?

Creating mobile-focused customer support can also help agents deliver a more personalized and efficient experience as well. Being able to securely leverage customer and profile data, such as purchase history, location, previous support issues, even the type of device they are calling in from—all can go a long way in creating the truly unique and hyper-personal experience that today’s customers don’t just want, but expect.

Companies have gone to great lengths to connect with their customers on mobile, and the results are clear. However, with everyone today emphasizing mobile, companies looking for a leg up on their competition must take things one step further. Optimizing the customer support experience for mobile devices and channels creates more engaged and loyal customers and can turn users from customers, to brand ambassadors.