{"id":3278,"date":"2020-03-23T09:32:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T09:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internal.n4engage.co.uk\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2020-08-14T15:09:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T15:09:13","slug":"the-future-of-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/internal.n4engage.co.uk\/2020\/03\/23\/the-future-of-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Voice: Is It Still Good to Talk?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
As we say goodbye to ISDN and see\nmore and more data about millennials never having used their mobiles to make an\nactual phone call, we ask, would customers rather type than talk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2020, most businesses have got a lot more to offer regarding customer communications than phone calls. As customers, we can contact brands by email, all manner of social media \u2013 privately and publicly – and chatbots, day or night. That seems to suit most of us – and our demand for immediate information and answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Data shows that, in our hunt for\ninformation, most of us will initially look for an answer on the web before we\ntry to contact a business directly. We want our question answered but if we can\u2019t\nfind it easily on the relevant website, we don\u2019t necessarily want to make\nverbal contact with another human. We don\u2019t want to queue on a call, we don\u2019t\nwant to listen to elevator music, and we don\u2019t want to bother with unnecessary small\ntalk if we can help it. So, it makes perfect sense to pick our chosen platform\nand type in our question, getting back only the information we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great thing about choosing a platform like chatbots over social media is that it\u2019s a live chat, so we get our answers straight away. The downside is that, whilst the software is improving, it still lacks the subtleties of human behaviour, and better suits information delivery or predictable enquiries rather than dealing with problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Usually if we have a problem or\ncomplaint that carries some level of urgency, we want to speak to a real person,\neither so that they can quickly reassure us or resolve the situation\nstraightaway. Whilst other options are great for dealing with the routine, they\naren\u2019t so good for solving complex issues with stressed out customers, where an\nout-of-the-box resolution or even a bit of empathy is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trick, ultimately, is to have\nthe architecture in place that can allow for every type of customer and challenge,\nwhilst dealing efficiently, quickly and economically with all the customer\ncontacts your business needs to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst every platform has its\npositives, it will be interesting to see if traditional voice calls ever become\nredundant. For now, they are still a real and necessary part of that\narchitecture for building our brands and keeping our customers happy and\nengaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n