5 automations to improve your customer experience

This was a guest blog written by Chris Lavoie, Tech Partner Manager, at Gorgias the #1 helpdesk for eCommerce. Gorgias helps transform your customer support from painful to exceptional by using automation and monetization at its core, to ultimately build your brand with each customer interaction.

Where is My Order?

Consumers are impatient when it comes to receiving the packages they order online. Amazon has taught them to expect delivery within two days. In some cities, consumers can expect to receive them the same day.

It’s no surprise that the customer care teams of many brands are inundated with emails, SMS, live chats and social media posts asking: where is my order (WISMO)?

If you’re a Starshipit customer you’ve seen first-hand the benefits of automating the fulfilment process. Did you know that you can also automate the responses to many of the WISMO questions you receive each day?

In fact, if you use a help-desk solution like Gorgias, you can automate up to 20% of your commonly asked questions, which means your customers receive answers faster and have an overall better experience with your brand. It can also free up your customer care team members to provide real-time support to those who need it.

Here are five automation tips to improve your customer experience

#1: Leverage Macros & Templates

Macros and templates allow you to make quick work of explaining the status of a customer’s order. Macros are pre-written responses to commonly asked questions, such as, when will my order ship? Is my package on its way? When will I receive my package?

Macros are highly functional, which means you can make them do a lot of work for you. For instance, you can:

• Personalise your outbound message to the customer with numerous variables, such as his or her first name, order number, and current order status retrieved from Starshipit.
• Change the subject of the ticket. If the customer wants to know if an order has been shipped, you can change the subject to: “Your order is on its way to you.”
• Include an attachment, such as a PDF of the shipping documents that accompany the package.

#2: Use Machine Learning & Rules to Reply to WISMO

Machine learning, when combined with macros and templates, lets you respond to WISMO inquiries faster and automatically.

Here’s how this automation works: When a customer inquiry comes in, Gorgias will assign it a ticket number automatically. Next, Gorgias will leverage machine learning to analyze its content. If it’s a WISMO question, Gorgias will pull the appropriate macro, insert the customer’s name and updated delivery status from Starshipit, and send the response automatically.

Your quick reply will assure the customer that your brand knows what it’s doing, which goes a long way in enhancing the customer experience.

#3: Automate Fulfillment Process Including Labels & Shipping Documents

If you’re not yet a Starshipit customer, you’re missing out on a lot of efficiencies that will save your company time and money, as well as reduce the kinds of fulfilment errors that make for unhappy customers.

Starshipit is a platform that automates your fulfilment process end-to-end, creating shipping labels and documents required by each courier.

For instance, your fulfilment team can quickly print courier labels, one at a time or in bulk, and electronically complete and submit customs and shipping documentation, reducing time spent packing and sending orders. That means packages arrive in the time frame you promised at the time of sale, which in turn, means fewer calls and messages to customer care.

What’s more, Starshipit gives you the opportunity to proactively notify your customers via email or SMS alerts automatically when each delivery milestone was reached:

• Shipping labels printed
• Picked up by a courier
• In transit
• Out for delivery
• Delivered

Keeping customers informed every step of the way will build excitement for their package’s arrival, and decrease the number of requests to your customer care team.

#4: Use machine learning to Detect Customer Sentiment

Above we talked about how machine learning can assess the contents of an incoming message, but it can also detect all sorts of customer sentiment, including positive, negative and urgent messages.

Let’s say a customer writes in, demanding his package “ASAP” and if that doesn’t happen, he’ll post a negative review on social media or the app store. Gorgias machine learning will detect that frustration and process the message according to your rules. For instance, you may want to flag such inquiries as those requiring personalised attention, giving your brand the opportunity to set things right with the shopper.

#5: Leveraging Starshipit and Gorgias together

Starshipit and Gorgias are fully integrated with a large range of eCommerce platforms (Shopify, Big Commerce, Magento and more , which means your customer care team members won’t need to toggle between two screens to answer WISMO questions. From the Gorgias screen your team members can quickly see a customer’s:

• Delivery status
• Shipping method
• Order number

Delivery is a crucial part of the overall customer care experience. Provide a flawless experience, and you’ll increase the likelihood of repeat purchases, along with positive reviews and comments on social media. Automation will ensure that mistakes are eliminated, the customer is kept in the know, and that customer care is on the ball in the event of an issue.

In Gorgias, you can create automated processes and responses for WISMO requests to save time and create an immersive customer experience. Adopt a helpdesk to empower your support team during the holiday customer service and beyond.

Gorgias is currently offering 2 months free to every Starshipit customer - start your 2 months free.