Do you know, global email users are expected to amount to 4.3 billion users in 2023?
Email is the most preferred way for companies to handle customer support queries. Businesses have seen an increase in customers’ demand to obtain information quickly. On the other hand, customers use diverse channels to communicate with brands. However, email remains the number one platform both parties prefer for communication.
How do businesses handle so many emails every single day? This is where email ticketing automation can help.
An AI-based email ticketing system allows customer support staff to easily track, organise, prioritise, and assign emails for improved customer experience. Let us learn more about how AI-based email ticketing can improve customer service.
The Current Status of Email Ticketing
Email ticketing system works with an intricate automation system that converts incoming email messages to requests and incidents based on the nature of the message and routes them to the staff in customer care.
By 2020, 85% of all customer interactions will be handled without a human agent – it calls for an update to and automation in email ticketing for a more robust system.
Lack of Trained Personnel
The traditional method of email handling is flawed. It is time-consuming and cumbersome and has the potential to clog up the ticket backlog. The entire process is based on the availability of trained customer support staff to deliver a satisfactory customer experience.
For some companies, lack of trained personnel and automation in email-based customer service is a major hindrance.
Long Customer Wait Time
Brands that currently use email as the only source of customer requests need to hire local teams to handle customers’ requests from around the globe. This leads to a longer wait time for the customer as the agent is looking for the problem in the manual or researching from other sources.
According to a report, 42% of customers feel that one to three minutes wait time is acceptable while they wait to speak with a customer service agent. In the same report, 31% of customers are willing to wait no longer than five minutes.
Language Barrier
Language is another barrier to offering a satisfactory customer experience. This necessitates finding the top customer support talent in the local language. However, the language barrier is not just restricted to email. In a 6-minute customer service call, 75% of that time is devoted to agents doing manual research, with valued customer interaction at a dismal 25%.
Imperfections of Traditional Ticket Automation Tooling
Slightly better than handling manual emails are the traditional rule-based ticketing systems. But this system has its flaws, which we look into in the following.
1. An Ineffective System
Unfortunately, the rule-based ticket system relies on software work that is based on predefined, broad, and rigid keywords. As a result, such a cumbersome system leads to incorrect sorting and inaccuracy in incoming requests that ultimately leads to a frustrated and disgruntled customer.
This issue needs correction, and the solution is to invest in an intelligent AI-based email ticketing system.
2. Difficult to Integrate
Another flaw that could significantly affect the customer experience is the difficult integration of traditional email ticketing systems. These systems have an imprecise routing that makes it tough to incorporate into other company-wide systems.
Such a system requires other sources of information and sometimes it leads to manual retrieval of information.
3. Lack of Omnichannel Customer Experience
The lack of automation in traditional email ticketing results in a system that is not up to the current standards of customer experience. Customers want omnichannel access to brands and prefer them to be more efficient and quickly resolve customer complaints.
4. Unable to Handle Sophisticated Customer Requests
One reason why email ticketing systems are not suited for a fully integrated customer experience is that they lack the clarity and capacity to handle complex customer requests. Some customers expect to interact with the brand naturally, such as speaking to the representative in their native language in real-time.
Unfortunately, traditional ticketing systems are unable to process such requests. This is why businesses need to invest in an AI-based ticketing system.
AI-Based Email Ticketing System is the Answer
Now that we have looked at the current status of traditional email ticketing along with its flaws, it is time to focus on why brands should consider AI-based systems.
According to a Forrester report on customer service trends, companies and customers have stepped into a new era of automation with smarter and strategic customer service. Individuals expect pre-emptive actions effortlessly delivered by highly trained agents along with artificial intelligence.
Here are some of the benefits of an AI-based email ticketing system.
1. Swift Access to Customer Information
One of the main benefits of AI-based ticketing is that it can store customer information. This makes it easy to store and retrieve information along with the history of any particular customer.
According to a Microsoft report, 75% of customers want the agent to be aware of who they are and their purchase history – an expectation that has remained steady over the last five years. This indicates the significance of having information retrieval synchronised and automated.
2. Automatically Assign Tickets
Investing in an AI ticket system is a one-time investment that will be fruitful in the future. The automated system directs customer support issues to the right staff members.
With an AI-based email ticket automation system, triggers can be created so that when a ticket is submitted through email, the query is directed to a particular agent.
3. Reduced Customer Wait Time
An automated ticketing system will reduce customer wait time as all the data is readily available with the customer support agent. The reduced wait time for each customer will result in a better customer experience.
It transforms traditional email tickets into an effective channel for customer support and also reduces the IT department’s time and resources otherwise spent on answering emails manually.
Final Thoughts
An automated email ticketing system offers freedom from hindrances caused by agents. Moreover, it helps speed up customer complaint resolution that increases customer loyalty and offers a better customer experience. Automation in email ticketing bridges the gap virtually between business and customers, establishing a connection of reliability and trust.
Make your business more efficient with our state-of-the-art email ticketing system for your brand. We offer a customisable, feature-rich email ticketing system with AI that effortlessly converts email requests to tickets for better management and handling. It also collects user feedback for future reference.
Contact us for more information about our services and how we can help you to create the best customer experience.