In an effort to create frictionless customer experiences, companies have invested significantly in digital transformation for customer self-service. These investments include FAQ web pages, chatbots, online forms, and mobile apps, all designed to enable customers to solve their own queries and complete transactions without assistance from live agents.
Despite the abundance of self-service options available to customers, only 9% of queries are fully-resolved in digital self-service channels (Gartner), with 71% of customers preferring to phone, even when their queries could easily be resolved online.
Customers continue to call because they feel their query is urgent and of high value, or they want to explain their problem in their own words. So, how do companies bridge the gap between the phone channel and their digital self-service offerings? The answer is Zero Touch Resolution.
What is Zero Touch Resolution?
First touch resolution describes customer queries that are resolved with one customer service interaction. It is a key measure of contact center success, as it is both a gauge for customer satisfaction and contact center efficiency. A well-run contact center would boost a high rate of first touch resolution, which is often a sign of a large number of well-trained agents.
But in the post-COVID world, staffing shortages are more likely the norm and contact centers are struggling to meet demand. Companies need a way to reduce the volume of calls while resolving customers’ problems effectively.
Zero Touch Resolution refers to the percentage of calls that are successfully resolved without the customer needing to speak to an agent.
The voice assistant allows the caller to express themself freely without relying on ‘press 1 for this, press 2 for that’ IVRs or requiring the use of specific keywords. It then directs the caller to a specific online resource where they can complete the required action without speaking to an agent.
Using voice assistants to achieve Zero Touch Resolution will enable companies to build a bridge between the phone channel and existing investments in digital, empowering contact centers to rapidly and drastically improve first touch resolution rates with the resources they already have.
Zero Touch Resolution is not a case of using the phone channel to deliver recorded messages to deflect or neglect callers. It is about guiding callers to genuinely helpful resources through natural conversation.
PolyAI enables enterprises to deliver up to 90% Zero Touch Resolution with voice assistants that answer customer questions, complete transactions, and direct customers to specific online resources that will fully resolve their queries.
