What defines effortless customer experience in today’s business environment is a comprehensive 24/7 support system by brands to help their customer base. Though in the past, businesses used to depend on phone calls and emails to answer questions that their customers had, today’s organizations are ready with instant answers to customer questions all the time, and the best way companies are providing this is via live chat support. Over time, live chat has become a primary choice for businesses to solve customer problems quickly and efficiently. It has also evolved along the way, adding several attractive features that have remarkably boosted the customer experience delivered by brands worldwide.
Today’s modern version of live chat can offer different capabilities that were not even conceivable before. It is anticipated that this trend will continue to rise in the future with live chat solutions becoming more advanced with each passing day.
In this blog, we will discuss some future possibilities of live chat that can entirely transform the face of customer experience in the coming years. Although some of the facts that will be discussed below might look too futuristic, you can rest assured that none of these is just wishful thinking! With the kind of rapid and smart advancements we are witnessing, with respect to the development of modern technologies, the future trends discussed below are surely expected to become pillars of the smartest live chat ever in the near future.
Augmented Reality (AR)
What ‘Augmented Reality’ actually means is nothing but the enhancement of sensory perceptions that are aided by computer-generated sensory inputs such as video, audio, graphics, location data (GPS), and so on. With the use of AR, it is possible to help users with even more information and reach beyond what they see.
For instance, during a live chat session, you could point the camera of your device to a “live” product and an overlay including the information about the product which could be generated. The chat operator could look at this information and find out if there are any discrepancies.
Moreover, quite a few useful AR apps have been developed recently that can use some form of GPS system to augment local searches. When it comes to live chat operators, they could use these apps to access this information and send a request to the service center so that a manual aid is sent to the location closest to the person who is sending a request for help.
The use of AR is still fairly limited but is expected to develop further over the next few years. Live chat can definitely use this technology to offer even better support to customers.
Voice-Aided Live Chat Support
Voice control has become a quite interesting concept ever since Apple introduced Siri. During the last couple of years, we have seen that several smart steps have been taken to enhance and transform the concept of voice recognition, and this trend is expected to grow more in the future.
In today’s world, constant efforts are made to use diction and syntax to interpret voice instead of just working with an idea that sound waves can recognize commands. This has led to the remarkable development of Natural Language User Interfaces (NLUI).
In the future, live chat support tools are expected to integrate NLUI to offer seamless voice-aided support to customers. This feature will aim to provide relevant information faster to users. They will only need to open the live chat window and speak relevant commands to it. And the software would automatically log-in any past details of the customer, pull out the case history, and assign the chat immediately to the relevant operator. NLUI, in combination with gestures, has the potential to take customer interactions to a whole new level for both contact centers and online buyers.
3D Screens & Holograms
The use of 3D screens and holograms is one of the most fun features that is expected to be incorporated with the future version of live chat, making it livelier than ever before! Experts believe that 3D screens and holograms will be more predominant to live chat applications of smartphones and tablets.
Haven’t we already seen a surge in 3D mobile technology?
The modern-day users look for 3D-enabled devices and not just the simple 2D-enabled ones. In the future, this innovation is expected to make live chat smarter, giving rise to a hologram-ready live chat system, just like what we see in Star Wars!
If holographic projections are incorporated with live chat, chat operators will be able to connect with customers in such a way that it will seem like they are physically present at the same place as the customer. This will add an exceptional level of ‘personalization’ to live chat and thus can highly impact the buying decisions of customers in a positive way.
To take it one more step forward, it is anticipated that the future will unfold the integration of 3D projection in live chat with the elements of gesture in it so that the customer interactions can be taken to the next level in an effortless way. For example, the operator could bring up the ‘settings’ panel of a software application, pinch his fingers to zoom into a specific area, and he/she will be able to proceed by explaining the toolset to the user.
Are you all set for the smartest live chat support of the future?
So, we have discussed some exciting features to expect in live chat technology, in the near future. The only questions that remain are – when or how soon will it be available and what will it take to get us there?
Everyone is waiting to see what customer support of the future is going to offer and Etech believes that live chat will play a key role in the process. Being one of the largest live chat solution providers for over 20 years, Etech is eager to see how things will eventually unfold and expect to help organizations deliver consistently memorable customer experiences by providing the smartest futuristic features of live chat very soon!
