What Is Customer Experience Automation?

Customer experience automation definition

CX automation makes it easy for businesses to automate one-on-one customer engagement through the entire customer lifecycle, so communication efforts arrive more quickly and personalized. Instead of service representatives handling day-to-day exchanges with clients, you can use automation solutions to minimize human interactions and do the heavy lifting for your team.

In order for customer experience automation to be successful, you must include the following components:

• Orchestration. With orchestration, you’ll use existing customer data to determine where automation is necessary and most valuable. This way, you can set up your touchpoints and communicate with clients when it makes sense.
• Segmentation. Segmentation allows businesses to divide their audience into different subgroups based on common characteristics, such as demographics, shopping habits, and personal values. By segmenting your contacts, you can ensure they receive relevant content based on their unique needs and at the most appropriate time.
• Personalization. Personalization ensures every person interacting with your brand feels seen and heard. You can build highly personalized campaigns with the data gathered from your segmentation efforts.
• Automation. Analyze customer data and use it to your advantage to automate your communication.

Keep in mind that customer experience and customer service have different meanings. Whereas customer service is a singular event that occurs when a client requires support, customer experience encompasses every interaction with your business.

CX automation vs. customer relationship management

As mentioned, CXA enables businesses to automate the entire customer journey, while customer relationship management (CRM) refers to the process of organizing and managing client relationships, plus analyzing data obtained by interactions. However, both CXA and CRM tools work in tandem to improve the customer experience and help you develop a better relationship with your audience.

CRM software provides users with a platform that aggregates and evaluates the information collected automatically or manually. This ensures you and your team can access client data via a centralized dashboard, so everyone is on the same page and can personalize interactions with customers.

With CX automation, you can leverage the information in your CRM to automate certain exchanges throughout the customer journey.

CX automation vs. marketing automation

CXA tools are designed to help companies automate the customer journey from beginning to end and beyond, ensuring consumers are taken care of regardless of where they are in the buying process.

On the other hand, marketing automation isn’t interested in the customer lifecycle; rather, it aims to strengthen funneling efforts to move individuals through different stages and campaigns.

The benefits of customer experience automation

There are many advantages to using customer experience tools, including better customer communication, increased operational efficiency, and stronger customer relationships. Take a look at a few of the most notable benefits below.

Provide 24/7 support

There are certain automation tools that allow future and existing customers to obtain support whenever they need it and when most of your team is offline.

For example, AI chatbots can handle common issues that don’t require human interaction, so they don’t have to wait for a support representative to answer their most pressing questions. With around-the-clock communication, you can effectively interact with your audience at any time.

Minimize operational costs

You can save money and minimize operational costs using CX automation since live agents don’t have to handle many requests. Moreover, their time can be spent more efficiently on other important tasks.

Increase customer satisfaction

77% of marketing leaders agree that automation can improve the customer experience, and many businesses can easily increase satisfaction using CXA solutions.

By automating certain tasks, you can shorten your average response time, deliver high-quality support quickly, and solve issues faster. This can also decrease waiting times so that issues can be resolved in less time.

Personalized communications

According to Salesforce, 92% suggest their clients expect personalized interactions. With the power of automation, you can personalize communications with customers, ensuring they receive messages tailored to their needs and interests at relevant times.

Here are a few ways to implement your messaging and deliver a personalized experience:

• Send product recommendations
• Build targeted ads
• Deliver transactional emails triggered by specific requests or actions

Deliver consistent experiences

Customer experience automation can minimize friction between you and your customers, allowing you to deliver consistent experiences regardless of where consumers are in the buying process. As such, your team can communicate with customers in similar ways and reflect your brand in a positive light. Plus, automation can minimize errors that may make your business appear unprofessional.

Obtain valuable insights

CX automation software can help your business better understand the wants and needs of your customers since some tools are specifically designed to obtain information about them. For example, you may implement chatbots that collect client information and feedback.

Strengthen customer relationships

Automating the customer experience can strengthen the bond between you and your clients, making it easier to retain long-term customers and repeat buyers. This is because CX automation aims to facilitate communication, keep your brand top-of-mind, and impress consumers with excellent interactions, so they may be more inclined to purchase again from your business in the future. Loyal customers may also advocate for your brand and recommend it to others.

Become more profitable

Ultimately, delivering a better customer experience and ensuring clients are satisfied with your brand can boost conversions and revenue, which is great for becoming a profitable business.

While customer experience automation is a valuable tool businesses can leverage to enhance client relationships and increase sales, remember that human interactions are still important and may sometimes be necessary.

Ways to use CX automation

Forty percent of all customer interactions are expected to be automated through AI and machine learning, so there’s no denying the importance of CX automation. Here’s a few ways you can use CXA at your business to stay ahead of the competition.

AI chatbots

Chatbots that use AI and machine learning are extremely beneficial for improving customer experience. These chatbots can answer frequently asked questions almost instantly, so users don’t have to waste their time waiting for a customer service agent.

Self-service scheduling

Consumers may have to make an appointment with your brand, so ensure the booking process is efficient with self-service tools. In many cases, all consumers will have to do is answer a few questions to schedule their appointment; they’ll then receive an automated response confirming their selections.

Automated emails

There are different types of automated emails you can send to your contacts, such as:

• Abandoned cart. Abandoned cart emails are automatically sent to contacts who add items to their carts but never finalize the purchase. These types of emails can also be accompanied by tailored product recommendations.
• New subscriber. Those who recently subscribed to your newsletter will receive emails that acknowledge their subscription. You’ll also introduce your brand.
• Transactional. Transactional emails include password reminders, order confirmations, account activity updates, and so forth.

Live chat

Live chat solutions enable consumers to get answers to their most pressing questions in real time and outside regular working hours if necessary. Customer experience automation can also be valuable for customer service representatives, allowing them to resolve more requests in a timely manner and increase their bandwidth.

Feedback surveys

Gathering customer feedback provides insight into the satisfaction of your customers. You can automate client surveys to ask about their most recent interaction with your brand or inquire about their shopping experience and whether they found everything they were looking for. Then, analyze the information you collected and see where you can improve customer expectations.

Keep customers happy

Ensuring consumers have a positive experience with your brand is vital for building and strengthening your brand. With CX automation tools, you can enhance the customer experience and deliver around-the-clock support, personalized messages, and provide consistent experiences. You can also gain a better understanding of your audience and reduce operational costs.

If you want to begin automating the customer journey, use Mailchimp to get started. Mailchimp's CX automation platform enables you to build flexible marketing automation workflows and determine the best touchpoints to reach your customers. You’ll also be able to automate transactional emails, retargeting ads, and more.