The online world calls for a human approach. Increasingly more organisations are making customer experience a boardroom agenda item, seeking a distinctive edge. Retailers with an online platform fortunately rarely view delivering good service as a necessary evil anymore. Research again reinforces that the success of any organisation with online activities can be enhanced by the personal touch of humans.

Everyone is seeking an unparalleled level of service

Organisations want to deliver excellent service, both online and offline. But what exactly makes service good? Research shows that it revolves around a strong foundation and a personal approach. Good service involves providing clear answers to questions, swift service, and customisation tailored to consumer needs. To be and remain successful, organisations must continually adapt to the changing needs of customers. Companies are searching for a unique position and want to focus less on efficiency to ensure that service costs less. The art is to harness automation to create a personal customer experience. Once you master this art as an entrepreneur, you can make a difference in the online battlefield.

While many suspect that automation is solely focused on efficiency and cost-saving rather than a friendly approach, the opposite is true: automation actually allows us to better personalise and build a friendly relationship with the consumer. Consider Picnic, the local supermarket whose delivery radar accurately shows to the minute when the delivery will arrive. Companies like bol.com and Coolblue also operate in an automated and personal manner with a large number of customers. In doing so, they raise expectations for every other entrepreneur. A unique service position is not dependent on industry. Once a consumer is provided with a bespoke offer that suits their habits, there is automatically a desire for personalised proposals from other organisations. This way, (r)e-tailers like Picnic, bol.com, and Coolblue automatically raise the bar in other sectors.

The relationship between automation and traditional customer service

Consumers are using more digital options to make purchases and receive service. Nearly every consumer still indicates that personal contact is important as part of customer service. Especially Millennials expect a very high level of service before deciding to choose a retailer (again). Companies are increasingly looking for ways to respond to digital demand and personal contact solutions.

When we look at customer contact from the consumer's perspective, it appears that the choice between digital or traditional methods often correlates with the complexity of the customer query. For simple queries, consumers most frequently use the phone (22%), followed by email (19%) and WhatsApp (19%). As customer queries become more complex, the likelihood increases that a consumer will opt for telephone contact. In the case of a physical store, they may visit it again. Email is chosen in fewer than one in ten cases when it comes to complex queries.

While individuals prefer traditional customer contact channels, a variety of businesses are investing minimally in these channels. They find it more convenient to make greater use of email and chat. The organisations involved acknowledge in the research that these channels often need improvement: they lack a personal touch and are not user-friendly enough.

Contact centres set a good example

As more companies realise that customer experience is a crucial factor for brand differentiation, 'customer experience' is more frequently used as an indicator for measuring performance. A positive change, given that customer loyalty and revenue are inextricably linked to professional customer contact. Contact centres exist to facilitate customer interaction. Some of these customer contact organisations already make a difference in terms of professional and personal service. A benchmarking report from Dimension Data reveals that 77% of customer contact organisations experience a reduction in overall costs when customer experience becomes the main focus of their business strategy. 74% of surveyed contact centres even state that this strategy directly results in revenue growth. According to respondents, personalisation is one of the greatest areas for improvement in total customer experience. Within the customer service sector, the number of opportunities to create bespoke solutions for mass service has tripled in 2016. Thanks to improved analytics, more customer profiles and preferred channels are developed.

As a marketer within the customer contact organisation ContactCare and the author of this article, I also observe changes in (inter)national customer contact and differentiation. Our clients are increasingly distinguishing themselves because they use automation to create personal customer experiences. Experiences, rather than technological solutions, are developed by IT professionals. Moreover, we as a contact centre contribute to phone and digital interactions with clients. ContactCare's existence revolves around personal customer contact. Customer contact will become increasingly proactive, personal, and positive. We more frequently collaborate with organisations purely focusing on customer experience to increase sales, grow loyalty, and work cost-effectively.

Organisations are becoming more like people

Organisations are increasingly communicating like people and positioning a brand based on human traits. Ultimately, it's the warm, friendly, or professional characteristics that make the difference. A few even succeed in giving their product or service a human name (think of Toon, Eneco's thermostat). For consumers, it's about more than just the product or the service: they are curious about the personality behind the retailer. Automation is a means, personality is the goal. The image below speaks for itself. Ultimately, everyone wants to do business with people.