TL;DR:

• Manual QA is time-consuming and inconsistent. Reviewing conversations manually makes it difficult to ensure uniform quality across agents and touchpoints.
• Automating QA saves time and improves accuracy. Automation ensures all tickets are reviewed with the same quality, freeing up agent time to create stronger customer connections.
• QA helps teams continuously improve. It enables better agent training and brings forth actionable feedback to exceed customer expectations.
• Implement QA one step at a time. Begin by setting KPIs, introducing small changes, and investing in automation tools to streamline and measure success effectively.

Forrester’s 2024 Customer Experience Index reports that 39% of brands’ customer experience (CX) quality has declined over the past year.

It can be challenging to get a full understanding of how your team –– and AI, if you use it –– are truly performing.

This is true even with metrics like CSAT. 

“A 5-point scale only tells you and your agents so much, and relying on consumers providing feedback further limits what you’re able to look at and learn from,” says Kayla Oberlin, Senior Manager of Customer Experience at amika. 

Quality Assurance (QA) is becoming a more crucial component of a customer experience strategy, especially one that prioritizes customer happiness. 

We’ll cover the importance of customer service QA, best practices, tools, and tips to implement QA effectively.

🗺️ This article at-a-glance

• What is QA (Quality Assurance) in CX?
• Why QA is critical for customer experience
• Best practices for implementing QA in CX
• Challenges

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What is QA (Quality Assurance) in CX? 

In the CX context, QA (Quality Assurance) refers to reviewing customer conversations to improve your support team’s performance and enhance customer satisfaction. QA ensures a consistent and satisfying customer journey across touchpoints, including your website, support channels, and social media.

Common QA pain points for CX teams 

Aside from accuracy issues, a manual quality assurance process is:

• Time-consuming: Manual conversation reviews are slow and labor-intensive.
• Limited visibility: It’s difficult to get a clear, scalable view of team and AI performance.
• Inconsistent: Maintaining uniform quality across customer service teams can be tough.
• Resource allocation: Difficulty in ensuring the right skills, training, and resources are in place.
• CSAT limitations: Negative scores often reflect policies, not agent performance.

The solution isn’t for CX teams to skip the QA process altogether but to automate it.

According to research from McKinsey, “A largely automated QA process could achieve more than 90 percent accuracy — compared to 70 to 80 percent accuracy through manual scoring — and savings of more than 50 percent in QA costs.”

With an automated QA process, brands can:

• Save time: Automated quality checks help support agents to focus on the most critical tickets.
• Ensure consistency: Both human agents and AI agents are evaluated with a unified, comprehensive QA score.
• Boost performance: Agents receive targeted coaching to provide more consistent customer experiences.
• Meet customer expectations: Customers benefit from higher-quality support with quicker resolutions and accurate responses.

Why QA is critical for customer experience

According to Statista, 94% of customers are more likely to purchase again after receiving top-notch support. Quality assurance ensures that every customer gets the same experience, and provides agents with the feedback to learn and stay on-brand with each resolution.

At its core, QA: 

• Prevents errors
• Ensures consistency
• Builds trust with customers ‍
• Helps with personalization
• Aids in better coaching and training ‍
• Offers opportunities for continuous improvement

Prevent errors 

Addressing errors early is important, as even small mistakes can harm customer trust and create lasting negative impressions. QA tools can prevent mistakes because of better coaching and training. This can stop misinformation in its tracks –– and from escalating into bigger problems down the line. 

Ensure consistency 

QA makes sure that all customer touchpoints, like calls, emails, live chat, and even AI responses, are handled with the same level of care. This is especially helpful when training new team members, introducing new products or policies, or during high-traffic periods.

Build trust 

Consistent and reliable experiences build customer trust and loyalty. If you were to reach out to a brand and have an amazing experience the first time but a bad experience the next, you’d probably question which experience was the norm. 

Top-notch experiences that happen time and time again tell your customers that you’ll always be there to help. This can boost repeat sales and even referrals:  According to Statista, 82% of customers recommend a brand after a great experience.

Personalize experiences 

Aside from increasing happiness and making customers feel heard and appreciated, personalized support also affects your bottom line. Statista notes that 80% of businesses found that providing personalized customer experiences led to increased spending for consumers.

Aids in better coaching and training 

With QA, teams are able to rate and review all tickets instead of spot-checking. This provides them with a:

• Quicker turnaround on coaching opportunities
• Wider volume of tickets they can review, learn from, and use for training
• Better understanding of when a Macro or a process is leading to incomplete or unhelpful conversations
• Bigger opportunity for constructive feedback and flow improvements that are based on real responses and not frustrations with brand policies

Continuously improve

Whether it’s lowering resolution times, introducing a knowledge base, or adding an AI agent to your team, making continuous improvements will help you stay ahead of the competition.

Implementing a QA program (especially if you can automate it) is one of those additions that provides you with the refinements you need on a resolution-to-resolution level.

Best practices for implementing QA in CX

QA best practices include: 

• Establish a baseline for metrics and KPIs
• Monitor and evaluate regularly
• Implement automation tools
• Collect customer feedback

Establish a baseline for metrics and KPIs 

As you set out to integrate a Quality Assurance process into your CX program, first establish benchmarks for various metrics and KPIs. These benchmarks help track and evaluate the performance of QA as you implement it. 

If you don’t already track customer support metrics, CSAT, first response time (FRT), resolution time, and net promoter score (NPS) are great ones to start with. 

💡Tip: If you use Gorgias, you’ll find your current support performance statistics in the Statistics menu. Make sure that you can see back at least six months. Then, compare an equal time frame for post-QA implementation.

Monitor and evaluate regularly

While it might sound a bit “meta” to monitor your quality assurance (which is already monitoring your support responses), it’s still worth noting. 

Ensure that your QA process works smoothly, helps your metrics rather than hurts them, and provides actual helpful feedback to your agents. 

Implement automation tools 

The simplest way to maintain your support quality standards is to use an automated QA tool. Automating the QA process lets CX teams get deeper insights into agent strengths and areas for improvement, and captures deeper insights than a CSAT score could.

Collect customer feedback 

Understanding how customers feel will allow you to fine-tune your processes and ensure you’re delivering a consistent and high-quality experience. Here are a few ways to collect feedback:

• Surveys and reviews - Post-interaction surveys or direct reviews provide real-time feedback on what customers think of their experience.
• Social listening and real-time feedback - Monitoring online reviews, social media mentions, and customer comments offers insight into how your customers are feeling that might not be captured through formal surveys. 

Challenges of adding QA

Lack of resources, ineffective training, poor communication between team members, not having the right tools, and doing everything manually are some of the challenges you can encounter when adding a QA process.

Here are a couple of solutions we recommend:

• Start with phased rollouts. Rather than rolling out a QA process across your whole team, let more seasoned agents experiment with it first to give you feedback and make tweaks.
• Make incremental improvements. Changing an entire CX process at once to include QA can be overwhelming. We recommend making small changes (like starting to send CSAT surveys if you don’t already) one at a time. These changes will allow you to better measure what’s really working. 
• Invest in better technology. A manual QA process can be more time-consuming than helpful. Look for an automated QA tool that’s already integrated into your helpdesk. It will allow you to measure AI and agent responses equally, while also measuring results from a handy dashboard. 

Ensure customer experience meets quality standards

By prioritizing QA, your team can identify potential problems early, reduce errors, and improve overall performance, leading to a smoother, more reliable experience for customers –– and your CX team. 

In the long run, brands that focus on QA can gain a competitive edge, building stronger relationships with customers and driving sustainable growth. Book a demo now.

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Let's talk about something that often gets overlooked in ecommerce: what happens after someone hits that "Place Order" button. You might think the hard part's over once you've made the sale, but here's the thing  the post-purchase experience can make or break your relationship with customers. 

In today's competitive online marketplace, those relationships are everything — especially considering that loyal customers spend an average of 67% more per purchase than new customers.

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The importance of post-purchase support and automation in ecommerce

Providing an excellent post-purchase customer experience can turn one-time customers into loyal advocates who are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend your brand to others.

It's all about the customer experience

When someone buys from your store, they're not just getting a product — they're starting a relationship with your brand. 

A great post-purchase experience shows customers you actually care about their satisfaction beyond just making the sale. 90% of U.S. customers say that an immediate customer service response is "important" or "very important.”

When you nail this part, something magical happens: one-time shoppers transform into passionate advocates who not only come back for more but can't help telling others about their amazing experience with your brand.

Having accessible support and an efficient and easy returns process may make the difference between a happy customer and an unsatisfied one.

Building trust that lasts

Trust is everything in online shopping. When customers feel supported after making a purchase, they're much more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt if something goes wrong down the line.

It's like building a friendship: every positive interaction adds another layer of trust. And that trust translates directly into repeat business and glowing recommendations. 

The post-purchase support experience makes a huge difference in building that trust. In fact, 96% of customers say excellent customer service builds trust.

Keeping your return rates down

Great post-purchase support can actually help reduce your return rates. By addressing concerns quickly and providing clear information upfront, you can prevent many returns before they happen.

This can save you money on shipping and restocking and create a smoother experience that keeps customers happy and your business healthy.

Making processes more efficient

Automation eliminates manual tasks, freeing up your team to focus on more strategic initiatives. By automating repetitive tasks, you can improve efficiency and productivity, allowing your team to focus on more value-added activities. 

You can automate everything from customer support to returns and exchanges to your order tracking and more. Besides meeting customers' straightforward needs, automation allows you to focus your team's energy on solving bigger problems and strengthening customer relationships.

Accuracy, guaranteed

Automation helps ensure consistency across all your post-purchase processes. 

When customers know they can count on a reliable experience every time they shop with you, it builds confidence in your brand. 

Plus, fewer mistakes mean happier customers and less time spent fixing problems.

Creating better customer experiences

Speed matters in today's world, and automation helps you deliver faster, more personalized responses to customer needs. 

Whether it's instant order updates or quick responses to questions, automation helps you meet and exceed customer expectations. The result? More satisfied customers who feel valued and understood.

How to automate the post-purchase experience for better loyalty

Here are some ways to automate the post-purchase experience:

Automate your returns and exchanges process

Streamline the returns process with automated return labels, tracking, and updates. Use ReturnGO to automate this process, saving time and reducing manual errors. With automated returns, you can provide a hassle-free experience for customers, encouraging them to return to your store in the future.

Automated returns can help to improve the customer experience by making the returns process easier and more convenient. 65% of customers say the speed and ease of refunds affect where they choose to shop. 

By automating tasks such as generating return labels and tracking packages, you can reduce the time and effort required for customers to return items. 

Think about it from their perspective — if returning an item is hassle-free, they'll feel more confident buying from you in the future. It's like having a safety net that makes customers more comfortable taking chances on new products.

Centralize customer support

In today's fast-paced world, customers expect quick and efficient support. Using a customer experience platform like Gorgias, you can manage all your customer support tickets in one place, making it easier to provide fast, accurate help when people need it.

By centralizing your post-purchase support, you can manage support tickets more efficiently, respond to customer inquiries quickly, and provide the most up-to-date information. This centralized approach can hugely improve response times.

Keep customers in the loop

Nobody likes being left in the dark about their order. Automated post-purchase notifications keep your customers informed every step of the way - from order confirmation to delivery and returns. Using tools like ReturnGO, you can send personalized updates that make customers feel looked after. This is essential for building customer loyalty. 

Keeping customers informed about their orders can help reduce customer anxiety. When customers know what to expect, they’re less likely to worry about their purchase and are more likely to keep buying from you again and again. 

Create an integrated workflow

To truly streamline your post-purchase customer service, if you connect your returns management system with your customer support system, you really bring all of the pieces of a puzzle together.

When these two systems are in sync, you can create a smooth workflow that makes things easier for both your team and your customers.

By automating tasks like creating support tickets and processing returns, you can save time and create a more reliable, efficient system that helps you serve customers better. No more jumping back and forth between systems to check on a return when a customer reaches out about it.

The ReturnGO-Gorgias integration makes this happen seamlessly, with features like:

• Automatic ticket generation: When a customer requests a return, a support ticket is automatically created on Gorgias, saving you time and preventing errors.
• Real-time updates: Return request information is automatically updated from ReturnGO to Gorgias, so your team always has the latest details right there.
• Centralized system: No more digging through multiple systems. This means your support agents always have access to the most up-to-date information and respond quickly and efficiently to customers.
• Smart widget: The ReturnGO-Gorgias integration includes a widget embedded in your Gorgias dashboard, for managing RMAs directly from within Gorgias. This widget enables your team to:
  • View RMA information: See all the relevant details about a return, including the customer's information, the items being returned, and the reason for the return.
  • Take actions on the RMA: Easily approve or reject a return request directly from Gorgias.

The ReturnGO-Gorgias integration makes it easy for your team to manage returns and communicate with customers without having to jump between systems to hunt for information.

The path to lasting customer loyalty

So, there you have it! In the world of online shopping, how you handle the after-purchase experience can be just as important as making the sale in the first place.

By automating your post-purchase process, you can create a seamless and satisfying customer experience. 

Tools like ReturnGO and Gorgias can help you create the kind of experience that builds customer loyalty.

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TL;DR:

• AI Agent adapts to your brand's unique tone of voice. Choose from three default voice options (Friendly, Professional, and Sophisticated), or create countless types of tone with the Custom option.
• Aligning AI with your brand voice builds consistency. A consistent tone in customer interactions helps build trust and brand loyalty.
• Specify what AI Agent can and can’t say. Like your human agents, tell AI Agent your brand do’s and don’ts. From going all out with fun and emoji-filled replies to avoiding certain words, use custom instructions to make AI Agent sound distinctly on-brand.

People are only able to identify AI-generated content 46.9% of the time. That’s less than half the time!

In the ecommerce customer service industry, this is just one reason teams are getting more comfortable with using AI.

Better language processing abilities mean AI can be a better extension of CX teams, relieving agents of repetitive questions, like where is my order?, while speaking in a way that’s familiar and delightful to customers.

Upholding a strong brand voice should be one of your top priorities in CX. With Gorgias’s AI Agent, you can choose AI Agent’s exact tone of voice, from sophisticated to fun. Below, check out seven AI Agent brand voice examples from real customer conversations.

“We’ve had customers respond to the AI thinking they were speaking to a real person. That’s how elevated the response was from AI.”

—Emily McEnany, Senior CX Manager at Dr. Bronner’s

What is Tone of Voice?

Tone of Voice refers to how AI Agent communicates with your customers. In Gorgias, you can select from three pre-built tone options: 

• Friendly
• Professional
• Sophisticated

Or, you can create a custom tone, keeping your brand guidelines, style guide, and target audience in mind.

Note: AI Agent and Tone of Voice are only available to Gorgias Automate subscribers.

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7 Tone of Voice Examples for AI Agent to Match Your Brand's Style

Explore how effectively AI Agent adapts to seven distinct tones in the examples below. First, we’ll show you what a preset AI Agent tone option sounds like, then we’ll move on to six examples using custom instructions.

Feel free to copy and paste our provided instructions to set up your AI Agent with the custom tone of your choice, or, even better, take some inspiration to create your own. 

1. Friendly

A friendly AI Agent is the go-to for most CX teams. A Friendly tone of voice is outgoing and welcomes inquiries with enthusiasm. If you were to imagine the model support agent, they would speak like this.

The Friendly tone of voice is available by default in AI Agent’s settings.

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a Friendly tone of voice responds to a customer asking for samples and coupons:

2. Direct and brief

Now, we move away from AI Agent’s default Tone of Voice options and toward the vast possibilities of the Custom option.

If you prefer your AI Agent get to the point in as few words as possible, create a Custom tone of voice that breaks up text into separate lines, limits paragraphs to two to three sentences, and keeps responses short. 

💡 Tip: Access a custom tone of voice by going to Automate > AI Agent > Settings > Tone of Voice > Custom. A text field will appear where you can write your instructions.

Tone of voice instructions:

Acknowledge the customer's feelings by briefly repeating their initial concern(s). Break text up, don’t send entire paragraphs, and keep responses short and easy to read. Keep interactions brief but filled with empathy. We are not long-winded. Keep an informative tone while remaining professional, clear, and easy for customers to follow. Insert links where needed. Don't use too many adjectives when expressing empathy. Never tell the customer to email support or contact our customer service team.

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a direct and brief tone of voice responds to a customer who wants to cancel their order:

3. Fun (with lots of emojis! 🤗)

Who says support agents can’t have personality? Bring some fun into your conversations by creating a custom tone of voice that allows your AI Agent to use emojis and exclamation points.

Tone of voice instructions:

Greet with first name only. Acknowledge the customer's feelings by repeating their initial concern(s). Be concise and provide shorter responses, try to keep your responses to a few sentences. Use a warm, positive, and engaging—like chatting with a helpful, considerate friend. Sign off with "Best Regards". Avoid jokes or comments related to sensitive topics. Make the customer feel like a friend. You can include approved emojis for a personal touch and exclamation points. Approved emojis to use: 💞🫶✨🥰💖🎀💓💘🥳💗💕💯 You should recognize and celebrate personal milestones mentioned by customers, making the interaction feel more personal. After the customer's initial message, there's no need to restate their issue in follow-up responses.

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a fun tone of voice responds to a customer asking about exchanging their damaged product:

4. Comforting

Customer support often gets a bad rep. Customers anticipate long response times and unpleasant interactions. Flip customer expectations by giving your AI Agent a calming and comforting voice that can instantly fix negative experiences.

💡 Tip: Brands in the wellness and baby industry would do well to use a comforting tone of voice for their AI Agent.

Tone of voice instructions:

Our brand embodies the role of a nurturing parent, promoting happiness, growth, and well-being while creating moments of joy and inspiration. Stay genuine and reflect childlike wonder without being overly sentimental. We maintain a positive and supportive tone, offering a safe, comforting space. Avoid admitting fault or apologizing. Be shorter in replies. Do not offer replacements. Do not give out phone numbers.

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a comforting tone of voice responds to a customer asking about exchanging their damaged product:

5. Bro-y

Give your AI Agent a laid-back, “we’ve got your back” vibe that feels like chatting with a buddy. This tone keeps things casual, approachable, and like you’re ready to tackle any issue together.

Tone of voice instructions:

Sound like a gym bro. Speak casually and friendly. Be eager to help. However, do not go overboard with puns or stereotypical phrases. You may use the following emojis: 🤙💪🏋️ End responses with "Stay awesome,"

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a bro-y tone of voice responds to a customer asking about glove sizing:

6. Punny

If your brand isn’t afraid to lean into humor and puns, this tone will definitely connect with your audience. Let your AI Agent use wit and clever wordplay to keep conversations lighthearted and customers smiling at their screens.

Tone of voice instructions:

Speak in bee and honey puns and use colorful emojis. Use at least one emoji per message. Keep your messages brief. Sign off with a different pun in every conversation. If a customer is upset or needs urgent help, avoid puns. 

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a punny tone of voice responds to a customer asking about suit sizes:

7. Bonus: Robotic

In all of our examples, AI Agent responses can easily be mistaken for one of your human agents. But if, for any reason, you want to change that by making your AI Agent sound robotic — it’s possible.

Tone of voice instructions:

Sound like a robot. Make robot sounds and puns. Use short, direct, and easy-to-read sentences.

How it looks in action

Here’s how an AI Agent with a robotic tone of voice responds to a customer asking about exchanging their damaged product:

Say it how you want with AI Agent

Like a chameleon, AI Agent adapts to your brand voice. Whether it’s friendly, professional, or a custom tone, you can be sure that every interaction aligns with your brand’s identity. 

With AI Agent on your side, you have the power to make each conversation feel authentic. Take it from Psycho Bunny’s Senior Customer Experience Manager Tosha Moyer who says, “The overall tone is good, and its responses are really excellent.” 

Ready to see AI Agent’s excellence for yourself? Book a demo and discover how AI Agent can be a permanent part of your team.

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This episode’s featured guest is Nik Sharma, the CEO at Sharma Brands. He works with founders and executives of a wide variety of brands to launch their digital platform, develop an acquisition and retention strategy, expand their channels, and optimize their revenue. He has worked with big brands such as Bill Blass, Roc Nation, and Haus, and he is on the podcast today to discuss the importance of customer service.

Customer service is a brand’s frontline of defense. They are the first to know when something is wrong, broken, or if anything can be done better. By identifying the needs, concerns, and issues of the customer faster than anyone else, they can also fix or address problems before it gets any bigger and becomes damaging to the company. For example, when Nik was working with Judy, an emergency kit brand, there was an issue with their discount code. It simply was not working but no one knew until an online shopper got in contact with customer service. Immediately, the code was fixed and although Judy must have lost several potential customers during the mistake, they could have lost far more if customer service were not there to receive and respond to the matter.

It is important to keep the customer happy. If it is their first time ordering from a brand and they have a less than stellar experience, they are most likely not going to order again. They will not give any of the company’s second products a try, such as the more expensive purchases or subscriptions. That is why customer service is there to pacify the consumer and their issues, acting as a prevention method to any bad experiences. By offering even simple solutions from a technical standpoint, such as dealing with refunds or providing a shipping label, the customer is excited that the brand provided them with a solution.

Through this excitement and acknowledgement, an intimate relationship is created between the brand and customer. The customer feels valued as the brand understands and emphasizes with them. They recognize that they will be taken care of and as more customers begin to feel the same way, a community is built. Every company talks about wanting to build a community and all the strategies that it will take to do so, but the easiest and fastest way to accomplish that is by just having an efficient customer support team. Even a simple third-party logistics team can give a significant boost to a brand by providing front-line workers for customers.

It is not an exaggeration to say that customer service is the most vital piece of a brand. Nik has seen firsthand what good customer service can do and how much feedback, both positive and negative, it can receive. By offering world-class customer experiences, it can boost businesses to new heights and maximize profits. To speak to Nik and to get a further insight into the importance of customer service, he can reached via text at 917-905-2340.

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