When it comes to customer experience, top brands are always looking for ways to improve their strategies and build brand loyalty – without compromising on efficiency.
CX improvements can take many forms, but generally, they fall into two categories: augmenting aspects of the customer journey by providing teams and customers with the right technology and automating processes so customers can self-serve and problem-solve.
Augmentation improves customer experiences with CX teams by adding technology that enhances them. Automation removes direct CX interaction to streamline processes. Successful CX teams augment some processes with the right technology while automating others. The trick is figuring out when to automate and when to augment.
The first thing to think about is what you want to achieve. We all want to keep customers happy, but brands have to ask what kind of experience customers expect and whether that customer experience is a point of differentiation.
Companies like Amazon do an exceptional job of automating their customer experience. They have been a leader in using automation to provide a fast and convenient shopping experience for its customers. Similarly, Apple’s Genius Bar is another example of how allowing users to diagnose their own problems provides a more convenient and differentiated customer experience.
Other companies like Starbucks and Nike augment their customer experience to provide a personalized experience. In particular, the Nike+ app shows how augmentation can offer a personalized and differentiated customer experience while maintaining the human element.
But before selecting the technology your CX team needs, there are a few key considerations to work through to decide whether to automate or augment – and what technology is right for your business.
When and what should you automate?
Automated processes should help customers self-select or self-serve. They should reduce friction in customer experience and improve cost, all without negatively impacting the overall customer experience.
Some examples of processes that can be automated include: