How to define the CS Manager role to increase sales (and not just manage chaos)

With the constant changes in tech, now is the time to redefine your business's customer service (CS) management and bring it into the future. There's no time to doubt the capability of advanced tech—especially for ecommerce businesses. A study from the Burning Glass Institute found global businesses are seeing a 45% profit increase since adopting modern tools like AI. With the growing complexity of today's working environments, keeping up with these changes is more crucial than ever.

Even worse, Customer Service Managers (CSMs) are failing fast. They're immune to high turnover rates, operational chaos, and immense pressure. The good news is it's still possible to turn things around and ease the pressure with some simple changes. Ecommerce managers can enhance the customer experience by modernizing the CS Manager role where it matters. The perfect antidote is to use AI while rethinking the strategy through shifting KPIs.

Will AI reshape the customer experience? Will the customer service manager role truly improve business outcomes? Read on to discover the problems this technology solves and solutions to overcome.

Why Customer Service Managers are struggling to keep up

The end goal of Customer Service teams is that customers are happy with your products and that business is flourishing. Right? You want customers to share positive sentiments with their friends and families and spread the word about your products.  

However, the reality is far from the expectation. The truth is, CSMs are grappling with chaos while juggling multiple operational responsibilities. CSMs are constantly bogged down by training new agents due to high turnover rates. The practice is time-consuming and impacts productivity and efficiency.

Additionally, every second counts. The role often involves response-time management for customer support tickets. Realistically, CS Managers become flooded with customer inquiries as they balloon in a given day. The more time it takes to respond to customer questions and concerns, the more dissatisfied your customers become. 

Finally, CSMs often have to update and maintain many predefined responses or templates. Their roles take even more time and distract them from focusing on their strategic capabilities. 

According to Gainsight, 59% of companies aim to increase digital customer success through scaling and efficiency. However, achieving this goal is almost impossible when there are so many obstacles in CSM operations.

Shifting from operation-minded to KPIs

There is hope, and it starts here. Redefine KPIs and shift from operational tasks to strategic KPIs. Adding more processes into the mix shouldn't be the answer. It's important for KPIs to be defined to achieve efficiency and scale sales numbers–one that fits into the current era of AI. Here are some KPI examples: 

1. Customer Satisfaction: Customer needs and feedback should enhance the overall experience, not weigh it down. Feedback loops like Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys help nurture positive customer relationships and reduce churn.

2. Customer Retention: Retaining happy customers is crucial for business growth. Calculating your churn rate will reveal the percentage of customers that stopped buying from you. To find your churn rate, divide the number of lost customers by the total number of customers in a timeframe, then multiply by 100. For example: # of lost customers / # total customers x 100

3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): CSMs should track CLV to understand areas for improvement (like upsell opportunities). Therefore, measuring CLV shifts will tell you when new strategies are taking shape.

4. Increase Sales: A strategic CSM works alongside sales teams to drive revenue. They should identify business advantages and introduce upsells or cross-sells.

5. Speed of Response: Great customer success depends on quick response times. Leveraging the tools ahead in this article can help customer success managers improve response times. The result? Streamlined interactions for happy customers.

5.Remove Customer Objections: Start with providing support teams with automation to address them. One way to do this is to proactively monitor feedback and online engagement to resolve objections. Then, get with your sales team to collaborate.

The power of transforming CSM roles and teams relies upon embracing tech like AI. Luckily, you have a co-pilot with a whole arsenal of AI tools.

Steps to Transform the Customer Service Manager Role

Now that KPIs are laid out, it’s time to make the magic happen. Is strategizing your CSM’s game plan overwhelming, or is it empowering? Follow these steps so the role becomes strategically set up for success:

Step 1: Invest in technology

You can use AI-powered tools like AI Agents to improve your customer service operations. The technology increases customer responses and reduces the workload of CS Managers. AI can perform various tasks, such as:

• Composing detailed and accurate responses to customer inquiries: The AI Agent is built for the job. Those support times end up being decreased rapidly. 
• Proofreading customer support team replies.
• Providing customer service while identifying customer sentiments, like frustration or anger
• Analyze large volumes of customer data, identify trends, and predict potential issues from sets of data. 
• Identify opportunities to make upsells based on learned history.

The technology helps save time on routine tasks, allowing more time to focus on growth and development rather than getting caught up in the details.

Step 2: Empower your CS Managers

Provide CSMs with the resources and authority to lead strategic initiatives. Start by integrating tools to track performance metrics so your managers can keep their eyes on the prize. Facilitating goal-setting will also help foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

Step 3: Build upon customer relationships

CSMs can focus on building relationships with new and existing customers to satisfy long-term success in business. AI technology can analyze customer data and identify patterns and trends. Take repeat buyers, for instance. It will recognize the products they’re into and help CSMs take into account their customer’s behaviors. Some strategies to enhance customer relationships include:

• Personalized customer interactions: Using customer data, personalize interaction to make every customer feel valued. This might include addressing them by their name, referencing previous purchases or inquiries, and providing tailored recommendations for future purchases.
• Implement the customer feedback loops: It’s time to put to use those surveys, reviews, and interactions. Use the helpful feedback to pinpoint areas for improvement and enhance the customer experience.
• Address customer concerns proactively: Technology acts as an assistant, monitoring customer behavior and engagement. At the same time, it’s anticipating and addressing issues before they become problematic.

Using these strategies, AI Agents free CSMs from monotonous tasks. While freeing up time and energy, they can offer genuine customer service that keeps customers happy and helps bolster brand loyalty. While it almost goes without saying, the turnout will undoubtedly be increased profits and happy customer service members. 

How True Classic revolutionized customer service utilizing AI

One of many prime examples of a successful transformation of the CS Manager role through AI adoption is True Classic. The company significantly improved customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and sales growth at a rapid pace. True Classic had a profound start, with $100M in sales within only two years. 

With the great, accelerated growth came an inundation of support tickets, which weighed down their agile team. There were repetitive questions, as well as valuable opportunities and conversions missed.

Once True Classic's team turned to AI and automation, they saw a strategic shift and a transformation in operations. The difference was night and day. Routine tasks were done without a second thought, reducing response times with AI Agents. 

The CSMs felt empowered to focus on strategic initiatives. Additionally, they created personalized customer interactions through advanced analytics. Technology overcame True Classic’s obstacles, turning a burnt-out team into an efficient and proactive one. 

The Future of the CS Manager role

The future of the role, redefined, means CS Managers can now focus on higher-value business activities by embracing AI. When retailers can transform operations from chaos to growth, you see the difference AI makes. Automating routine tasks, utilizing AI Agents, and leveraging advanced analytics means Ecommerce Managers can enable CSMs to focus on strategic initiatives.

The final outcome? A double win with operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The evolution is evident. When you allow these technologies to assist your business operations, Customer Service Managers and their teams can contribute to your company’s success.

Thanks to AI, CS Managers are equipped to support business growth 

The hallmark of the successful CS manager role is strategic. It goes from operational tasks to efficiency by reimagining KPIs and leveraging AI and automation tools as assistants. An increase in sales, customer experience and satisfaction, and operational efficiency is clear when this transformation occurs. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if your CSMs could shift from managing chaos to driving business success? Additionally, what if CSMs could fully concentrate on higher-value activities like perfecting templates and proactively addressing customer concerns? The plan is now laid out for them. 

The future of the Customer Service leader role looks promising. AI is playing a considerable part in unlocking its full potential. Businesses that adopt AI invest in their CS Managers.  They redefine the CS role and bring it into the future with growth and success. 

By implementing these strategies and incorporating AI, customer service operations are certain to experience significant enhancements in customer satisfaction and the future of business.