Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line: Virtual Assistants Are Essential

Transcription

1 March 2015 Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line: Virtual Assistants Are Essential Stratecast Analysis by Jeff Cotrupe Big Data & Analytics (BDA) Volume 3, Number 2

2 Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line: Virtual Assistants are Essential Table of Contents Introduction... 5 Companies Want to Optimize Customer Experience, but Reality Intrudes... 6 Specific Challenges by Vertical... 6 Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line... 7 Giving Customers What They Want: Virtual Assistants... 8 VAs: The Tactical Perspective... 9 VAs: Strategic Imperative A Premier Provider of VA Solutions: Creative Virtual V-Person Addresses Large and Growing Segment of $41.18B BDA Market VAs in Action: Case Study Snapshots Time Warner Cable: V-Person Powers Enhanced Ask Amy VA E*Trade VA Reduces Live Chat Traffic, Increases Instant Answers V-Person Delivers Value for Verizon Autodesk Integrates its VA with its Twitter Page and Reduces Trouble Tickets National Rail Enquiries Uses V-Person to Make Ask Lisa Available on its Facebook Page Chase Bank Provides High Level of Personalization The Last Word BDA 3-02, March 2015 Stratecast Frost & Sullivan, 2015 Page 3

3 Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line: Virtual Assistants are Essential List of Exhibits Exhibit 1: Challenges Faced by Verticals in Trying to Optimize Customer Experience... 6 Exhibit 2: BDA Market by Functional Categories Exhibit 3: Old Way, Link to TWC.com (on left) versus New Way, Exact Answer (on right) Exhibit 4: V-Person Powers E*Trade s Virtual Assistant Exhibit 5: Verizon s VA Optimizes Live Chat and Generates Unassisted Sales Exhibit 6: Verizon s Virtual Assistant Provides Enhanced Support Exhibit 7: Verizon s Virtual Assistant Provides Personalized Information Exhibit 8: Autodesk Reduced Trouble Tickets by Making VA Available on Twitter Exhibit 9: National Rail Enquiries Ask Lisa Answers Customer Questions on Facebook Exhibit 10: Chase Personalizes Answers to Authenticated Users BDA 3-02, March 2015 Stratecast Frost & Sullivan, 2015 Page 4

4 Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line: Virtual Assistants are Essential Introduction 1 U.S. companies lose $ billion each year due to poor customer experiences; and companies around the globe suffer similar fates. It is also well documented that it costs more to win a new customer than to keep one, so the financial impact reverberates across the organization. The good news is that, while poor customer experiences can be revenue-crushing, delivering positive customer experiences can be the #1 way to differentiate a brand even if the brand s competitors currently have greater market share and outspend it with massive marketing budgets. In fact, by 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as a key brand differentiator. 2 Given the importance of using customer experience to retain existing customers, it is counterintuitive that, in the court of business opinion, seemingly everyone wants to talk about using online and mobile to sell, but few organizations are putting the same amount of energy and focus into using these channels to keep the customers they already have. The truth is that a company s Web site and social sites are how the world sees it; and, increasingly, those views of the company occur mainly or entirely on mobile devices. How a company handles each interaction, at each touch point, with every customer and prospect, is critical. Similarly, it seems as if everyone wants to talk about omni-channel communications. Yet, a company s communications through those multiple channels its Web site, marketing and advertising messages, social media, and even product materials and product manuals are undoubtedly generating questions that the help desk and other touch points need to answer. These external channels are likely creating confusion among customers and prospects, which the company needs to address quickly. How companies manage their customer support interactions hold the key not only to customer retention but also to the opportunity to generate new revenues. This Stratecast report will analyze: The things customers want from their interactions with companies today. The things companies are seeking from those interactions, and the systems that enable and enhance interactions. The role of omni-channel communications in optimizing the customer experience. The role of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in creating a winning scenario for both customers and providers. The report will then discuss a solution that uses AI and machine learning to provide better solutions for providers, and an optimized experience for customers. 1 In preparing this report, Stratecast conducted interviews with representatives of six companies. Please note that the insights and opinions expressed in this assessment are those of Stratecast and have been developed through the Stratecast research and analysis process. These expressed insights and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the company executives interviewed. 2 Sources: emarketer; IBM: State of the Market (2014) BDA 3-02, March 2015 Stratecast Frost & Sullivan, 2015 Page 5

5 Companies Want to Optimize Customer Experience, but Reality Intrudes Brands today face serious challenges in trying to deliver optimal customer experiences. The first challenge is mobility. Customers are on the move in more ways than one: they are both more mobile and less brand-loyal than ever before, wielding Big Data from every wireless device, and finding seemingly better deals and services on every new screen. This cuts especially hard in the realm of customer support, because many customers are so knowledgeable about offerings and options in the marketplace that when they contact a company s helpdesk they may have more complete, current information than the customer service representatives (CSRs) taking the calls. Time, or more to the point real time, presents another challenge. In today s world, transactions and reactions increasingly occur in real time; which, depending on the industry and the situation, can vary between less than a minute to milliseconds. Yet, on some support calls, such as generating an activation code, many companies still measure handle time in days. This is unacceptable because it simply does not match customer expectations; and, just as importantly, it ties up company resources handling transactions and processes after the fact, instead of moving forward to win new customers. Customers and prospects represent a moving target in another way in that they are looking for answers in new places. Not long ago when a company s customer service team failed a customer, that customer might write an angry letter and send it to the company headquarters, or to a local or regional office. More creative and capable customers might do lookups on business data banks, such as Hoovers, where they could find direct fax numbers that would place their concerns in front of specific, named top executives. While these measures, particularly the executive faxes, could be effective in resolving problems, they were also private channels. Today, customers seek redress, and the spotlight, in highly visible venues such as Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp. With the right content, tags, and company handles, word of the customer disservice that customers believe they have been receiving can rocket around the Web in seconds. While companies are facing down all of these challenges, they are now doing it with fewer resources. Rising customer service costs are leading companies to close, consolidate, or offshore call centers; and none of that is helping companies optimize customer experience. Specific Challenges by Vertical All brands face challenges when it comes to trying to provide better customer experiences; and these verticals collectively represent the flashpoint, as shown in Exhibit 1: Exhibit 1: Challenges Faced by Verticals in Trying to Optimize Customer Experience Vertical Market RETAIL Challenges Retail customers have gone mobile and digital; and, while online shopping continues its rapid expansion, most retail purchases are still made in brick-andmortar retail locations. This is increasing demands for a seamless experience whether consumers are shopping online or in-store. Many retailers suffer from poorly-executed Web sites that do not effectively support retail reality; and from data management systems that do not integrate online, marketing, and inventory data. These factors result in inventory distortion, marketing of out-of-stock and deeply discounted products, and orders taken for products that do not exist. All of these negatively impact customer experience at a time when consumers are highly likely to stop doing business with a company due to a poor experience. BDA 3-02, March 2015 Stratecast Frost & Sullivan, 2015 Page 6

6 Vertical Market BANKING, FINANCIAL SERVICES, & INSURANCE GOVERNMENT CHARITIES TRAVEL HIGH TECH Challenges Banking, financial services, and insurance companies face pressures at cross purposes: on the one hand, they need to get closer to customers than ever before. On the other, they must comply with a global web of regulations and consumer protections including, to name just a few, the Dodd-Frank Act, Basel III, and MIFID II. This is occurring against a background whereby there are also constraints on what they can charge for certain services. That makes it harder to amortize the costs associated with the enhanced data management systems that could enable them to deliver better customer experiences. National and local government organizations are under pressure to improve the quality and convenience of the services they offer to citizens, and they are being challenged to better connect citizens with the information they seek. They must wrestle with huge amounts of data to do this, and they are expected to pull this off with limited budgets. Charities face the same customer expectations as any other organization. However, much like government but without the power to generate more funds through taxation they must also manage massive amounts of data, and they must do so while keeping costs extremely low to maximize throughput of donated funds to the cause. Companies in the travel industry face fierce competition from rivals, with price often serving as a major differentiator. New deep discount search engines for travel keep coming to market, giving customers increasing options in terms of digital booking. Travel companies that create an enhanced customer experience with easy-to-use, self-help options may prove that a good customer experience is the key factor in success. High tech companies are often faced with new challenges as their solutions continue to evolve. Using Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) tools helps users get answers to questions in forums, on Web sites, and in social media. Customers Want Fast Answers Online, Not Waiting on a Phone Line Source: Stratecast A major shift in customer usage or preferences can shake a market. One example has occurred in mobile communications over the past decade: whereas mobile customers used to demand maximum plan minutes to make phone calls, now more than anything else they thirst for data. That has led most operators to gradually eliminate their former unlimited data plans, recovering more revenue to support the continued network buildouts required to stay ahead of the explosion of data traffic. A major change in a market that is core to this analysis is occurring in customer experience. Putting live representatives on the line to answer calls is more resource-intensive than providing online assistance. Happily for brands, customer preferences have already changed on this such that the wishes of customers and brands are now starting to align: today most customers do not want to talk to someone on the phone to meet their needs or answer their questions. They want online, automated support. In fact, it is now a decisive majority: % are frustrated with being tied to a phone or computer to wait for customer service help, and prefer instead to contact customer service via text messaging. 3 Text messaging does not specifically connote phone texting, but includes all 3 Source: Harris-One Reach Customer Service Poll (2014). Anecdotally, the author of this report, and likely most readers, can vouch for the veracity of this statement. BDA 3-02, March 2015 Stratecast Frost & Sullivan, 2015 Page 7