What is the best way to communicate with customers?

One of the challenges that each one businesses face is determining how much personal support to offer their customers. Automating customer support can reduce human error and allow your online business to scale services more efficiently.

Tools like chatbots allow for 24/7 customer support and lead collection that your team can follow up on during normal business hours. It may save your organization a lot of cash on call centers and customer support.

But too much of anything might be a problem, and relying too much on automation deprives customers of the personal touch most of them are looking for. Let’s look at how personal interactions can profit your online business and how to find the right combination of automation and personalization.

What is personalized customer support?

Personalized customer support is about providing customers with assistance tailored to their specific needs and preferences. It’s about finding a way to incorporate a human element into every customer interaction.

Starbucks was an early adopter of this tactic when the company began having baristas write customers’ names on their drink orders. It’s a small way for baristas to connect with customers and build customer loyalty. It also reduces confusion and ensures that the customer gets the drink they ordered.

But even if you never see your customers in person, there are still ways to create a personalized customer experience. Starbucks also offers personalized drink recommendations and special offers based on a customer’s location and order history.

It’s also about providing customers with multiple ways to contact your online business, since everyone has their very own preferred way of asking for help. By staying flexible, you’ll be able to make sure that every interaction with your online business is helpful and leaves the customer satisfied.

How personal interactions help your online business

Personal interactions aid you improve the customer experience and increase growth in your online business. Let’s look at the biggest advantages of providing personalized customer support.

Guarantees meeting customer expectations

The pandemic has raised the bar on what customers expect from the firms they do business with. More than 50% of shoppers claim that the experience gained in cooperation with a given company is as vital as the products and services it offers.

According to McKinsey data, 71% of shoppers expect personalized interactions with businesses, and 76% feel frustrated when they don’t get them. This is true for each online and offline stores. In many cases, personalization has grow to be the minimum requirement you have to meet to attract customers.

Creates customer loyalty

Having meaningful interactions with your customers is the best way to create customer loyalty. Loyal customers will proceed to do business with you again and again and are more likely to recommend your online business to their friends and family.

Loyal customers have a higher lifetime value than one-time customers. Alternatively, customers are unlikely to purchase from you again if they do not feel their concerns have been heard or their problem has been resolved.

Additionally, firms that effectively leverage personalization will stand out from their competitors. Personalization helps build loyal customers and create more sustainable revenue for your online business.

Increases revenue

Data shows that firms that incorporate personalization generate more revenue, each from recent and existing customers. A McKinsey report found that fast-growing firms generate 40% of their revenue from personalization. Plus, because you’re simpler at targeting your customers, you’ll be able to higher control your market spend.

It helps you understand your customers

You can only learn as much about your customers as you’ll be able to by collecting demographic data and segmenting them into different email lists. By interacting directly with your customers, you’ll learn more about what they expect from your organization as a whole. You will learn what they like and dislike about your products and services and how you’ll be able to improve them.

The importance of balancing automation with personalization

Have you ever needed to contact customer support but couldn’t get through to anyone? No matter what you probably did, you could not get past the automated messages and talk to a real person.

This is the problem with relying too much on automation — it makes customer interactions feel inauthentic and frustrating. Technology might be a great way to sustain with the demands of a growing business, but some problems require human interaction and support.

That’s why after 18 years Facebook is finally building Customer Service DepartmentMembers whose posts or accounts were unexpectedly deleted were unable to resolve the issue due to a lack of customer support from the company.

For most businesses, automation and personalization go hand in hand—using them together is the best way to streamline processes and grow more effectively. The amount of human interaction you provide your customers depends on the variety of business you run. However, adding a personal touch to your customer interactions might be a great way to grow, build, and scale your online business.