Automation With A Human Touch:
A recipe for long term success and happy customers!
Working Effectively with your VA Team
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Automation tools have changed marketing forever and for the better.
Businesses have leaned on automation and in some cases, AI, as an innovation to reach customers with much better targeting than ever. Most of our clients say automated marketing is an essential element to their long term success. And frankly our ability to grow and scale business.
This is why it is no longer a surprise how much work is put on automation and AI than on humans. Things like customer service, automation emails, follow-ups, payments, and so much more.
Unfortunately, during this transition, we have dehumanised some sales processes and customer service. Customers are now noticing this and starting to shy away from companies that lack the human touch.
Smart automation is about adding back that personal touch – even slightly – to those sales and customer service processes. Here’s what we’ve found works when leveraging automation and accentuating human touch so that you’ll see improved response rates from your customers.
Whether it’s marketing, sales, or customer service to be truly useful, we need technology to be the best version of itself by ensuring that it retains that human core.
1. Customer Service
Picking up on consumer cues
Humanising automation means that when a customer visits your website and downloads content about a particular product, someone from your team recognises that signal as a precursor to the purchase and quickly reaches out to see if they need more help or information.
Creating opportunities for dialogue
Customers appreciate the ease and speed of online interaction with automation, and that is true. But, people want authentic, two-way communication with real people at significant moments.
Their preference, at any given time, will typically be determined by where they are in their buying journey.
For instance, whenever we see a prospect indicate a buying signal or interest in a product, we can add the option to engage with client support at the time. This might be a far more dynamic interaction than only having AI popping up with suggestions even though that may be relevant but lacking in warmth and human engagement.
Correct Interpretation
Effective marketers lean into automation, utilising signals and customer data to focus on delivering the most relevant content at precisely the right time.
It is critical to marry automation and a human understanding of the data to avoid misinterpretation. For example, setting AI to trigger upselling when the customer hovers over the menu, but then the customer was really looking for ‘contact support’.
2. Marketing & Sales
Email marketing
Automation software is a massive hit for email marketers to stay connected with their company’s customer with simplicity and ease.
But, the effectiveness of your funnel still relies on the content and design — that personalisation and uniqueness of your content that only you can provide to make your audience feel that they are connecting with you. There’s no replacing your voice in the material.
Sales automation
There is no way humans can watch for these signals 24/7 online, but we can step in and provide guidance when a visitor, say to your website, inevitably reaches out – your team will be there to help.
As advanced as automation tools have become, they aren’t always the most appropriate solution.
Complex problems and solutions are not wiped out by technology. Work remains for people in sales who can understand the specific complex issues of a prospect and communicate the value offered by their solution.
Automation is best utilised when it frees salespeople up to develop and manage relationships by handling the other tasks that would take up their time otherwise.
The best salespeople are the best communicators, and the more time they can spend using this competitive advantage, the better you’ll understand your customer and drive more recurring revenue. This applies equally if you are that salesperson 🙂
As excellent communication is so important in sales, it’s vital that salespeople focus on honing their soft skills—especially as this is what sets them apart from technology.
Service Fulfillment
For eCommerce businesses, automation has long been part and parcel of their business systems.
However, coaches, consultants and other service providers can utilise a certain level of automation in fulfilling their service offering to help keep things running smoothly.
- How quickly can you give a new client access to their membership site?
- How long after enrolment before someone from your team reaches out to book them in for their private session with you?
- How quickly can you start them on their customer journey with you – get them onboarded and experiencing their first wins?
3. Accounting
The value of automation in accounting is usually easier to identify than in marketing.
That said, just because you have the software doesn’t mean you won’t need bookkeepers and certified accountants.
There will always be a role for skilled experts with the proper credentials and experience to help us navigate the complicated world of regulatory policies.
It will be a long time before AI can replace the nuanced discernment that comes from having a genuine level of care that only humans are currently capable of.
4. Human Resources
Managing routine tasks such as editing employee records, tracking leave, attendance checking and collating evaluation forms can be time-consuming, so automation is usually the best option for these repetitive tasks.
But, when it comes to an understanding of the human needs of your employee, such as motivation, boosting morale or extending compassion when needed, it’s best to keep these as human as possible.
To Sum It Up…
When approaching or re-evaluating automation, speed, productivity, and effectiveness in the mundane, administrative tasks should take priority.
This frees up time to focus on the personal interaction only humans are capable of.
Do not sacrifice the role of real personal interaction in one-on-one meetings, sales coaching, and training for the sake of a little more selling time and efficiency.
Automation can help your business grow sales, save time and scale your business. Add in that element of human touch and watch your business really take off with more engagement from happy customers and staff.
Unsure what to automate? Download our handy guide ‘What to Automate’ by clicking here or on the image below.
