When we hear about automation, it is often in a negative context. The rapid advancement of automation in numerous fields has led to negative effects for workers in certain industries, and, as a result, is often viewed with some level of skepticism. While automation may be associated with a movement away from customer-centricity towards a more impersonal, robotized world, the truth is that it's all about how you use it.
In certain instances, automation can actually improve the customer experience and empower companies to pay better attention to the needs of the people they serve and less attention to manually completing antiquated processes.
Take the consumer finance process, for example. While applying for financing when making a purchase is often a logical move, the process of doing so has earned a decidedly mixed reputation. For many customers, when they hear 'financing application process,' they cringe at the prospect of how long it will take to fill out their application and wait for an approval.
A big part of the reason why that process traditionally takes so long is that filling out and submitting multiple forms to lenders is an extraordinarily time-consuming process. While completing this process, your employees aren't delivering great customer service; they are performing repeated, inefficient data entry while the customer checks their watch. Here's where good automation can come into play.
FormPiper is the perfect automation solution for your consumer finance process. With managed and self-managed services available, FormPiper eliminates duplicate data entry from the application process by allowing you to fill customer details onto multiple forms with a single click. This reduces frustration at a key part of the application process, when you or your team member are trying to close the deal.
Your customer will be able to fill out the initial application at home or in your store from any device, and from there it's smooth sailing all the way through to the approval. This is an instance where automation smooths over a slow, negative process. And that creates a special opportunity for you and your team.
By automating the bad, you will free up more time to focus on the good. The precious minutes you save by eliminating duplicate data entry add up, and can be used to help additional customers, better develop customer relationships, and generally dig into the daily tasks that make a difference for retail businesses.
It's proof that automation doesn't have to mean getting further away from great customer service. When used correctly, as with FormPiper's consumer finance solution, automation can actually bolster and enhance your approach to customer care. Don't view automation with skepticism; instead, embrace the right kind of automation and see what it can do for your consumer finance program.