Technology offers many ways to connect with customers. Once connected, how can a company maintain that connection and provide great customer service? BannerView.com setup a Q&A with Craig Borowski, Market Research Associate for the online resource serving CRM software buyers, Software Advice to get insight on applying technology to this area of business.

What were some of the intended customer service goals companies wanted to achieve by bringing their business online?
Most businesses are looking to expand their customer service options and channels when they decide to go online. For smaller or local businesses, this often amounts to simply wanting more exposure for the business, getting their contact information out there and letting customers know how to find them for questions and service. Larger companies often have more specific goals. For example, they might be trying to reduce the high costs of providing all their customer support by phone and email. To do this, they might develop a full online support strategy, including self-service options. Our report on the most popular self-service options shows that they can be extremely effective, not only in reducing the costs of providing support, but also in increasing customer satisfaction.

In what areas of customer service can a website successful contribute an ROI?
We’ve seen many companies find quick and impressive ROIs not long after implementing an online service channel. The main challenge is making the channel efficient and usable enough that customers have no difficulty using it. If customers can’t find the information they need, or can’t find it quickly and without frustration, then a majority will give up and call the company on the phone. Compounding this problem is the fact that these customers are unlikely to ever try the online channel again. So in order to ensure the company finds their ROI, it’s important to carefully consider the end-user experience of online service channels before they get rolled out to the public. The use of certain metrics, as shown in our report on LZS, can be extremely helpful in determining when a channel is ready to be opened up to the public.

Do you consider any of the changes or innovations associated with the Internet to have caused some challenges in trying to successfully provide customer service?
Definitely. The Internet, and especially social media, have empowered customers like never before. Customers that have bad support experiences can now go online and publicize their complaints. Sometimes these complaints go viral and millions of people end up hearing about it. This can be terribly damaging to a company’s reputation (and future business prospects). Companies that don’t address online issues like these almost always regret it.

How important is the concept of mobile (devices, websites and/or apps) in providing customer service?
It’s extremely important. In fact, it would be difficult to overstate the importance of support for mobile devices in designing channel offerings and an overall customer service strategy. Mobile devices will soon become the primary means with which consumers interact with companies online. Our recent report on mobile customer service shows how frequently customers try to get support from mobile devices, how often they fail to find what they need and what companies can do to avoid these problems.

What would you like to see websites do for customer service that they currently don’t do?
Better mobile support is probably the most needed improvement. Take, for example, a customer service channel like live chat. Live chat is preferred by a large margin of consumers for a wide variety of service interactions. It’s hugely popular, but as of right now it’s largely restricted to desktop and laptop computers. There are some vendors that offer mobile-compatible live chat platforms, but they’re a minority. We'd like to see more vendors focus on offering this. Given the popularity of both live chat and mobile support, we're certain we will.

Craig Borowski is a Market Researcher at Software Advice, covering technology and changing trends in the CRM market, with a focus on customer service, marketing automation and the impact of technology on CRM strategy. Craig joined Software Advice in 2013 after serving two years as CMO at the U.S. branch of a German consumer products manufacturer.