The old salesman’s saying—there’s no customer like an existing customer—rings true more than ever in these tough economic times. And one of the best ways to keep existing customers is through responsive customer service. Yes, we’ve all heard the nightmare stories of frustrated customers having to deal with reps from India who barely speak English. But this may soon change.
CNNMoney recently noted that Siri, iPhone's virtual personal assistant, could be the new voice of customer service. Increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous, voice recognition technology is changing how businesses interact with remote customers. David Goldman at CNNMoneyTech notes that Siri-type customer service apps will soon be available for bank, cable and credit card smartphones.
Spearheading the charge is Nuance Communications, which recently announced a natural human language input software it calls Nina. The smart software comprehends customer account questions and responds accordingly. Nina is flexible enough to adapt to virtually any customer-focused application.
In terms of banking, Nina can respond to “Pay my bill” questions with "How much would you like to pay?" It can also deal with statement balance queries and voice commands to make payments now or to delay them at a later date. Nina can transfer money, even troubleshoot problems. Nuance’s goal is to make Nina so smart, accommodating and responsive that customers will go to the app, before hitting the “0” button for a human customer service rep.
If the customer insists on talking to a live human being, Nina comes to the rescue by calling a live rep and providing him or her with all the background details of the particular issue. This finally puts an end to one of today's major automated-customer-service gripes: sorting through an endless string of call center menus and making the customer explain the issue over and over until a live human is brought on line.
Nina even comes with an analytics engine that lets companies know how customers are using their apps. Robert Gary, general manager of Nuance's mobile care unit noted that customers interact differently with a phone app than a live representative. Knowing the difference will help Nuance’s software team decide which features should be automated and which should be handled by a live rep.
To ensure tight security, before accessing any Nina-based app, users need to login by saying their password into their phone. Nina grants access only after it has run a voice biometrics engine to properly identify the person as a customer.
If you’re a customer service manager, Nina might be something you should look into. It can help your company retain its most valuable asset—customers. The software is easily customized to work with your customer service features. It also comes in a variety of platforms—including Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone. You can even choose your own voice talent if you prefer something other than the standard "Siri" or other computer voice.
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