Customer Experience Archives - Page 4 of 5

FCR- Are You Making It a Priority?

Where does FCR rank in your list of priorities? The role of the contact center is to offer customer services to their clients. The key is to exceed expectations and provide superior customer experiences at all times. There are no exceptions. If you don’t deliver then the client moves on to the next center and the customer moves on to the experience they are looking for. FCR is a critical measurement that gauges how well you are meeting your customers’ needs and how satisfied they are with the service you provide. The challenge for the contact center is to consistently maintain the high-quality standards of service that the client expects. Remember you represent their brand and so the experience you provide is a direct reflection of them. How can you ensure that you are among the top contact centers and what metrics should be your main focus? It has been my experience over the years that FCR, when analyzed well, will differentiate you from the competition. Look at is this way. It is an all-encompassing metric The digital advancement changed how call centers operate. It is not just about phone calls anymore. It is now about being where the customers are and social media will play a major role in how customers discuss your brand; they post, email, chat, and tweet. The definition of FCR has expanded over the years from First Call Resolution to First Contact Resolution. It includes all points of contact with the customer, and means that the customer’s issue will be resolved by the first person they contact no matter where that contact takes place. Think about it. If a customer with a billing problem chats with an agent via the website, they are looking for that agent to resolve their issue. We live in a fast paced, instant gratification society. Customers want a superior experience and expect that they will get it no matter where they are contacting the company. It measures quality standards FCR is a quality metric. It helps to measure the quality of services rendered to customers. Today’s customer have high expectations and they should. When asked, the customer states that getting a solution from the first person they contact tops the list. The connected customer has more options today than ever before when it comes to products and services. Your contact center needs to meet his or her expectations in the best, and fastest, way possible. At the end of the day when you offer superior customer experiences, you will have high customer satisfaction levels for your brand and the brand you are representing. It helps you identify training needs Training is a fundamental element for the success of your contact center because it improves agents’ performance. FCR provides you with information gaps that can help you streamline training. If you are measuring FCR properly you can identify the weak areas of your center and focus on providing the necessary knowledge and competencies to handle the customer issues you are missing. Monitoring FCR via your quality assurance team and calibration sessions will help you highlight the specific areas you must focus on. The sooner you identify those areas the quicker you can improve your agent’s knowledge base and close the gaps. It gives you a better understanding of your customers A contact center is a customer-centric company and having a good understanding of the customers you serve will help you provide the experience they are looking for. Using FCR, you gather vital information about your customer needs. Why did they call? What are their common issues with a product or service? Do they have common misconceptions that you can outline in your frequently asked questions page? This is all information that helps marketing, customer service, sales and leadership work to provide the experience that the customers want vs. what we think they want. It increases efficiency Inefficiency in a contact center will quickly eat away at profitability and your brand. When customers are dissatisfied with the service and employees frustrated with their jobs due to lack of knowledge you will lose them both. FCR data illuminates root-cause issues and provides the foundation for training, coaching and development to stop what is hindering an organization’s ability to provide the customer support necessary to maintain high customer satisfaction levels. So where do you stand with FCR? If it isn’t a priority today, you may want to start looking at how you are measuring the customer experience and if you are in line with what the customer is saying about the service they are receiving vs. the service they expect. Bottom line when you resolve customers issues at first contact you are leaving a customer with more time to promote you and the brands you represent! This blog was first published on LinkedIN

3 Tips To Help Create the Best Chat Experience

To stay on the cutting edge of customer service, you’ll want to offer your customers every available avenue to provide help and support. One of the newest, most innovative and customer-friendly methods is live chat support. Studies have shown that customers prefer this type of communication with companies over the phone or email. You might be surprised, in fact, to learn that customer satisfaction rates for live chat support are 73 percent. In comparison, email as a customer service route received 61 percent approval, while phone support only received 44 percent. Why wouldn’t customers pick online chatting over other avenues? For starters, with a live chat service, your customers are able to browse through your website at the same time they’re having their questions answered. This simplifies your ability to direct them through areas of the site where you’re helping them. Real-time chat sessions give your customers the best of all worlds here. How do you provide your clients the best possible live support experience? Take a look at the following three tips to keep your customer satisfaction rates at their peak. Train Your Team : “Chatting” with customers involves more than friendly banter. Your team will need to know how to understand the customer’s questions, accurately resolve problems and turn around dissatisfaction. Your chat team members will benefit by learning professional chat methodology principles and response tools, which will enable them to effectively communicate through a medium that might otherwise seem neutral or emotionless. Training courses are an invaluable element in keeping your chat team efficient, yet personable. Know Your Customer Demographic : With direct personal interactions, it is easy to adjust your style of speech and vernacular to match that of your customer, and therefore establish a rapport. However, you lack this type of face-to-face exchange in a chat session. It isn’t always possible to tell whether you’re chatting with a 20-something or a senior citizen. The issue goes beyond age – factors such as location, personality and background also apply. It can be challenging for chat personnel to discern these tidbits of information through a computer monitor. Even so, being able to identify with your customer by picking up on and matching his or her unique inflections is a valuable skill. Quantitative research studies can be vital in providing insight into your company’s particular demographic and average customer base. Understand Your Customers’ Needs : What exactly is it that your company provides, and what might they have issues with that prompt them to seek your help in a chat session? Being able to fully understand the help a customer may need, your particular services and your products is the golden ticket to providing stellar online chat support. You and your team might understand every aspect of your business inside and out, and that in itself makes a huge difference. However, you will get more in-depth, intuitive results by investing in objective research based on third-party interviews. In this way, you stand a much better chance of seeing your customers’ concerns through their eyes. Live chat support should be fun, engaging and thoroughly rewarding for your customers. These tips should help you elevate your team to chat superstars. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

How to Successfully Engage and Retain SaaS Customers

When your company provides software as a service, it’s important to constantly work toward a high level of engagement of your customers. Engaged customers are often more likely to be retained by your company. The software as a service customer has specific needs that need to be addressed effectively and in a timely manner by your company. Etech Global Services can give you ways to provide the best customer service through SaaS, integrating software and satisfaction solutions. Offer Consistent Support First and foremost, your SaaS must be backed by consistent technical support from your team. Retaining customers without proper support is something that isn’t realistically going to happen. When customers need help, make sure your team is up to the challenge. Make Things Easy and Convenient It’s also important for you to make things as easy and as convenient as possible for your customers in the software environment. If simple tasks are too difficult or convoluted, your customers won’t be happy. Have a Way to Get Feedback Another important way to keep your customers engaged is to have a way to get feedback that is incorporated into your software system. When there are questions or concerns, you want to make sure your customers are heard. Tie Business Practices Back to Customers With software subscription business models, every aspect of the company needs to be tied back to the customer. Your revenue is linked to creating a favorable experience for customers, so all product development, business management and financial departments need to be working toward the same customer satisfaction goal. Increase Employee Product Knowledge Keeping all employees updated with pertinent product knowledge is another useful way to keep your customers’ business. No matter what part of the company someone works for, everyone needs to know extensive knowledge about the most popular software offerings. Communicate With Different Teams Communication between departments is essential as well for best outcomes with customers. When customers are not happy with product quality, that information needs to be shared throughout the departments of your organization. Foster Community Within Your Product Having a designated place for software discussion or support online is a great way you can facilitate community among your various customers. When you provide this service, this shows optimum transparency and commitment to product improvement. Simulate the Customer Experience Knowing how things look through the customer’s eyes is an effective way to keep up with issues that may occasionally pop up. Be sure to run different simulations or tests that allow employees to get this experience. Take Effective Action When Needed No matter what is going on with your subscription software, you must know when it’s time to take action. Analyzing different issues as they come up can help you determine the appropriate course. Focus on Problem Solving Most of all, your company’s business model should stress problem solving. If subscription software becomes its own problem, you’ll lose your customer base. That’s why it’s important to create innovate solutions throughout the life of your organization. Maintaining customers and finding new ways to engage them with your subscription software can make a huge difference on the bottom line. Additionally, your company can continue to recruit new business while improving your routine practices. This blog was first published at LinkedIn

The Emerging Role of Social Customer Care in Business

The month of April was action packed, and among the most memorable things I did, was taking part as a speaker at the PACE Convention & Expo. The focus of the convention was creating an effortless customer experience and the emerging role of social customer care in business. Customers need engagement throughout the product life cycle, from their research to purchase to consumption and even after consumption. Unlike before, whereby, you only needed to engage the customer before and during the purchase. Social customer care should be a big part of your marketing strategy because more and more customers are going to social media to seek for answers. This trend has gained popularity among consumers because, They do not have time to pick up the phone and ask the customer care representatives. They are not sure how long it will take you to respond to the online contact form. They are aware of the “onlooker effect” whereby the potential reach is broader than just the dialogue between the consumer and the company. They want value for their time and money. How then, can you engage your customers on social media? Be proactively reactive. This means that you respond in a timely, personal and relevant manner. Timely Consider these statistics: In Twitter, there are approximately 5,000 tweets every second. 30% of the users expect a response within 30 minutes. One in five brands say they “rarely” respond to customer complaints made via social media, yet consumers who use social media expect a response within an hour According to Sprinklr 38% of consumers, feel “negative” about a brand who fails to meet their expectations for a timely social media response. Consumers expect instant feedback from you. When you make them happy, they will make you happy too. If you do not respond immediately, you lose the opportunity to please a customer and many others that follow you. Personal Social Media provides the window to personalize your message. As a brand, you need to take advantage of the issues raised; the social media channel preference, location and influence of the customer. For example, when a customer asks a question on your twitter handle, you need to answer them in the same channel, use their name in your response, be sympathetic with them and their concern and most importantly, offer them an appropriate solution. When you do not personalize your response, it leads to channel irritation, which easily spreads to other customers. Relevant When a customer raises a question, it is up to you to remain relevant. Relevance to the customer means that you help solve the particular problem. However, relevance to your organization means leveraging the data for future use, aligning your responses to other marketing initiatives and remember, what you say reflects on your brand. For example, if a customer wants to know when the new products will be available in the stores, do not start telling them about the production process and the numerous unforeseen challenges that can come up. Be precise with your answer, give the tentative dates and promise to keep him or her updated on the progress. The task of managing all your social media platforms concurrently may sound like a daunting task and you may shy away from trying it. At first, it will overwhelm you a little, but with practice, it becomes easier by the day. You can also outsource this part of your customer service to experts in contact centers who will give you all rounded social customer care. In conclusion, we have looked at the role of social customer care in business, and the best way to engage consumers; being proactively reactive by providing timely, personal and relevant responses. Are you engaging your customers online? What are some of the tricks that you have tried and tested and worked wonders for your company? Feel free to share with us. This blog first publish on LinkedIN

Strengthen Your Brand with 3 Seamless Customer Experience Tips

Your brand has made a mark in the noisy market-place and every day you need to ensure you maintain that position. Whether you stand for integrity or innovative products, one key aspect that will help you keep that standing is a seamless customer experience. Customer experiences are not only limited to the retail space but also in the online space, and today’s consumer has more options than one could ever imagine possible. By a click of a button, they have walked out of your store, and into that of your competition. A seamless customer experience means that you are customer centric, and you fully develop all your channels. This makes it easier for customers to navigate to the information they need on whichever channel they prefer and still get the same brand experience across channels. Follow these three basic steps to improve your customer experience and elevate your brand relevance. Simplify the Buying Process : In the online retail space, simplicity is king. Once the customer is online, they want to view the products and with a click, make the purchase. However, when they have to scroll through several pages to make the purchase, they are frustrated and abandon the cart. According to a study carried out by American Express Survey, 78% of customers have bailed out on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of poor customer experience. When customers are happy with the services they receive, they will tell others about it, and that increases your sales. However, when they are dissatisfied, they abandon your brand together with their friends. With a myriad of options available, the most hassle free and direct outlet wins. Efficiency : Efficiency goes beyond the service delivery to operating costs. When your team offers a flawless experience, they spend less time per client. They become so good at their duties because there is consistency in what they do. Leveraging technology also helps your entire organization to become efficient because the same standards are applied. Especially when you have an offline and online retail space, it increases your output while reducing your operating costs. Remember, to meet the high expectations of today’s empowered customer you need to improve your efficiency. Pleasing the Customer : Your organization exists to meet a particular customer need, and when that happens, the customers are satisfied. When you improve your services by offering a personalized and seamless experience, you leave your customers feeling special and valued, which leads to brand loyalty. Loyal customers are an asset to your company because they advocate for your brand to their friends and family. There is no better way of marketing yourself than through your satisfied customers, who willingly talk about you on their social media platforms. News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many people as praise for an excellent service experience. Therefore, only superior experiences can grow your brand. In summary, the pendulum has shifted, and your consumers define your brand image based on their experiences. Do everything in your power to ensure that you offer superior experiences to your customers for a healthy brand. If you can provide a simple buying process, efficiency and make your customers feel valued, your company will have a good handle on the importance of seamless experiences to your brand.

Omni-Channel Communications Strategy

Omni channel is a harmonized operation model of serving customers, in which the company channels are aligned into a single face, along with one consistent way of doing business. The companies replace the many views of the customer they often hold today with one unified view of the customer across all the channels. It enables you to respond in a consistent way to the customer’s constantly growing needs. An Omni channel strategy involves giving a consistent and seamless experience via technology, customer service and the retail space. Your customers experience the same from all points. For example, a customer can purchase a product online and when he encounters a problem, can return it to the physical store for a replacement or repair with ease. An Omni channel strategy is most useful to communication service providers e.g. call centers that are facing intense competition fromother emerging companies. What spurred this dynamic transition? The customer has changed significantly; he is now more connected, his journey with you is now vibrant, nonstop and easily reached. Vibrant – this is powered by technology, customers no longer follow the traditional purchase model – of awareness, then consideration and evaluation and lastly purchase. Today’s customer checks around several online stores before making a purchase. Non-stop – the customer journey is continuous because the devices he uses i.e. mobile phones, tablets and computers are always on and can find the information they are looking for at all times. Easily reached – customers have access to information like never before. Many sources (articles, blogs post and websites) of this information are not in your control. What steps can you take to adjust to these changes? Your aim is to offer customers a consistent experience across all the channels, such that they feel like it is a continuation of a previous interaction from whichever channel they initiated the process. Leverage digital to gather insight You cannot make any meaningful changes without knowing what you are changing and how you are changing it. There is a huge data pull online that when utilized will generate the necessary insights, not forgetting what can be gathered from the physical channel. These insights drive your marketing efforts. Knowing your dynamic customer, gives you the basis of personalizing their experiences at their channel of choice while remaining relevant. Integrate the channels As stated above, Omni channel is about creating a single channel, your next step should be to integrate all your channels into one. The current multi channels operate independently with their own strategies, the physical store, the call center, the social media management team. Integration means that, if a customer wants to make a purchase or payment, they can do it from any channel without any challenges and they leave satisfied. They can go to the store, or through the e-commerce enabled website or by calling the call center. For example, when you run a promotion on your social media platform and website, customers should be able to enjoy the same in your retail space. They should not see the promotion still running online yet the products are out of stock. We understand that customer service is no longer a marketing function only; all departments that interact with customers offer it. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to integrate the new Omni channel approach across all the functions, from the technical team, sales and marketing team, the other staff and management. For example, when a customer speaks to an agent about a device problem he is experiencing, and the agent advises taking the device down to the service center, the customer shouldn’t go there and have to start explaining his problem all over again. A simple customer number should suffice. This integration offers the customer a seamless experience and he will be satisfied with the service. Leaders need to encourage faster and easier implementation of the Omni channel communications strategy. Integrate the business units In summary, Omni channel communication is the way to go because of the connected customer challenge, the same customer whose journey with you is vibrant, non-stop and easily accessed. Your role therefore, is to respond to the customer and offer a unified consistent experience that begins with you leveraging technology to gather insight and then integrating it across all business units and channels. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

How HR Can Add Value to Customer Experience Excellence

Customer experience is no longer a function of the customer representatives’ only or customer-facing employees only, but the entire organization participates in ensuring customers experience high satisfaction levels. They all act in different capacities that lead to superior customer experiences. Human resource department is the force behind employee engagement with the blessing and guidance of the top management. When the senior management sees the employees for who they are – internal customers- they will do what it takes to ensure they are motivated, engaged, valued, appreciated and satisfied. We know that an engaged employee will perform at optimum and thus provide excellent services. The above statement is a generalization; let us get down to the specific actions that the Human Resources department can undertake to add value to the customer experience. Have a Dual Vision For the human resource department to be efficient, they need to align their strategy to external customer engagement strategy. They do this by first understanding customer expectations and employee behaviors that will help meet those expectations. A dual vision will help them set clear objectives, and strategies to achieve them. When the HR takes care of the employees with the customers in mind, they will have a greater impact on the service delivery process. That customer driven strategy will contribute to the overall success of the organization in customer service excellence. Be Approachable and Available Just like an organization positions itself to be readily available to customers with positive or negative feedback, so should you to your “customers”. The only way to understand the employees is to have a dialogue with them. When you keep your doors open for constructive conversations, you will influence the employee behaviors. Think about how easy it is for them to do business with you; are you putting into practice what you are teaching them regarding their behavior towards customers? Is it easy to get in touch with you? Do you give them timely feedback? Do you have channels that your customers can reach you when and how they choose? These questions will guide you in developing a customer focused strategy, as well as know the best channels to communicate with your staff. Recruit Meticulously A core responsibility of human resource is staff hiring. However, to add value to the customer experience excellence, you need to hire differently. For instance, you can focus on recruiting staff that have the right attitude more than the skills. Reason being, you can train on the skills but not attitude. When you have the right team from the onset, with the right attitude towards customer service, then you are on the road to excellence. Facilitate cross-functional collaboration All departments need to work as one because a customer looks at the company as one entity, not units. The human resource department promotes partnerships between the other units. If there is no unity and a process of handling customers, it affects the quality of services delivered. For example, if the representative needs technical support to resolve a customer’s grievance, but the technical team takes too long to respond to the escalated issue, then only the HR manager can mitigate that problem. He or she will open lines of communications and instill the need for all departments to collaborate for the benefit of the organization. At times, they organize team-building activities that encourage cohesion among the staff. In summary, the human resource department play a crucial role in customer experience excellence. It is all about people when HR takes care of the internal customers and by default, the excellence flows to the external customers. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

Placing the Right Agents on the Right Campaign

As the marketing manager, you have spent a considerable amount of time drafting and planning your next marketing campaign, it is now ready to go. What is your next step? You sit down with your colleague at the contact center to break down the brief. One lingering question on your mind is “will this yield my desired results?” The determining factor in your results is the type of agents assigned to your campaign. Here is a list of the key areas of the importance we consider when placing the right agents for your unique campaign. 1. Key Competencies How competent an agent is directly affects their job performance because this reflects their level of knowledge, skills, and ability to handle the campaign. Do they have knowledge of the company’s offerings? How proficient are they with the contact center tools? What outstanding skills do they have? How capable are they of handling different types of customers? For example, you work for a large clothing Retail Company and you’re running a “get a 20% discount on every referral” campaign. The key competency this sales agent must have is the ability to convince the customer to buy and refer someone. On the other hand, a key competency of a service agent is excellent customer experience and the ability to actively listen to what the customer is saying. The aim is to have agents with the right competencies to achieve your campaign objectives with ease. Without competent agents, the campaign is as good as dead and a waste of valuable resources. 2. Personality type Personality is something that is unique to each and every one of us. Finding the right combination and fit for each campaign is something that has to be done for each campaign the contact center takes on. Some individuals are may have more people skills, while others result/numbers oriented. An agent’s personality type plays a huge role in how effective they will be at a particular campaign. For example, the way a people-oriented agent will handle customer objections is different from the way a numbers-oriented one will. The first agent will go the extra mile to see that the customer’s issue is resolved and that the customer is fully satisfied; the second agent will naturally count that as a lost sale and move on to the next contact. Personality type also shapes the agent’s internal attitudes towards their roles. A positive attitude is vital when it comes to having a successful agent. Finding and hiring agents that have that contagiously positive attitude will not only help that agent succeed, but it could also play a helping hand in the entire campaign’s performance. Agents are very aware of the overall mood and environment on the campaign floor so having that extra boost that a single agent can generate can truly make a difference, not only for the agents on the floor but also for the customers on the other end of the interaction. The important thing is to uncover the agent’s personalities during the hiring process and place them in the right department where they will thrive and exceed performance expectations. 3. Motivational fit Personal motivators vary from one person to the other but they generally follow Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and can be summarized in three categories. Personal interest: Does the company offer what the person wants in order to achieve their career objectives? For example, if a person has loved working in a high-energy, fast-paced outbound call center, will they enjoy working in an inbound center? Job fit: Do the job roles and responsibilities motivate the person? Is there enough room to be creative in their delivery? Does the working relationship with the immediate boss, hinder or encourage excellent delivery? Is the work environment helpful? Culture fit: Does the culture of the company and contact center equal the individual’s priorities and interests? This includes the type of people who work there, how the center management leads, company values, and company commitment to employee development and training. In conclusion, the above considerations; competencies, personality, and motivational fit are all related in various ways. However, an established contact center comes in handy because we are able to give you the right people who will guarantee results. Having the right people in the right position at the right time is critical to the success of your campaign. This blog was first published on Linkedin

Integrated Customer Engagement

Technology is changing every day and only getting better, and what’s amazing is how people are taking advantage of these new tools. Businesses are now handling transactions online and consumers like it. If you have never tried chat for your customer service or sales, you may want to consider it as a viable option, especially if you are like me and are too busy to wait on hold for endless hours. With chat you can help your customers at any time and just about any place. Now if you are a forward thinker and like to be on the cutting edge, your company should also be looking into Twitter as a viable option to help consumers. Some companies have a twitter handle, yet only use it for pushing content out which is one direction and not as much value to a consumer who has a problem. Some companies have gone a step ahead to employ people whose work is to respond to posts that are made on the website of the company as well as the social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter. Recent statistics show that Twitter is becoming more popular by consumers who want help or have something to say. As an experienced business person, it would be a good choice if you have not already, to establish a twitter customer care solution where the customers can be engaged on their preferred channel. If a customer has a question they can ask questions and get responses in real time. It is important to note that communication should be conversational with the brand and that no question can go unanswered. Chat customer service is also important as it also helps to improve the extent to which you serve you customers. Make sure that the one using the chat to communicate with the customers is good at chat etiquette to avoid losing customers. Chat etiquette is where one is able to deliver messages in a polite manner and avoid using tone that can raise issues from the customers. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

10 Influential Ways to Improve Call Center Quality Monitoring

For businesses that rely on the ability of their customer representatives to deliver outstanding service over the phone, call center quality analytics are a must. With call center quality monitoring, you can ensure that your employees are following the guidelines that can help your business succeed. Along with a monitoring program from Etech Global Services, there are additional techniques that can help your company get the most out of this technology. Here are the best ways you can utilize this helpful tool for your company. Let Representatives Be Part of the Process : The most important thing for a company that uses call center quality analytics is that your agents need to be part of the process. This can help foster a more positive atmosphere for evaluations rather than a punishing one. Incorporate Fun, Friendly Competitions to Motivate Team Members : To support a positive atmosphere, you may want to incorporate fun contests that are tied to call quality scores. A little friendly competition between employees can help motivate team members. Identify Common Problems With Agents : When analyzing call center data, look at what some customer service representatives struggle with. If you see a trend, you can address it as a company with new training. Work With Team Members Who Need Help : For those who are struggling to meet the requirements for call center quality, work with the team members who need help. Focusing more energy on training is a better investment than simply replacing these employees. Connect Quality Assurance to Company Goals : Identify the needs of your company, and draft specific goals that you want your agents to reach. All of your quality assurance effort should be directly related to these goals. Focus the Most Energy on Your Top Calls : Instead of monitoring short routine calls, focus your quality assurance program on the most involved calls where there is more interaction between customers and representatives. This is a better use of your time and resources. Analyze Customer Data With Quality Analytics : Customer surveys and other forms of evaluation should also be used alongside of call center quality assurance. Analyze all pieces of information to get the best picture of where your customer service falls. Give Plenty of Positive Feedback : Your call center monitoring feedback should offer plenty of opportunities to recognize those who are doing well. Employees want to continue doing the things that they get recognized for, so this increases motivation and productivity. Implement a Specific Training Program : When new employees come onto your team or existing employees are struggling, use your data to implement a specific course of call center training. This can help your employees know what to expect and give you greater results. Utilize Your Human Resources : Take advantage of all that your team has to offer by putting peoples’ strengths on the stage. Peers training each other can be much more effective than a supervisor or team leader taking the lead. Call center quality is a vital part to keeping your business practices consistent and profitable. Using the top ways to improve your call center effectiveness can help your company increasingly meet its goals. This blog was written by Jim Iyoob, EVP Customer Experience and Operational Excellence for Etech Global Services.

3 Little Known Ways That Consumer Sentiment Affect Your Business

The sentiment is defined as an attitude or opinion prompted by emotions or feelings. To understand this better ask this question: How do consumers get these feelings when they base their opinions on your company? I believe they come in two ways: After interacting with the staff. Customer service plays a huge role here in how they will feel about your company. For instance, when a customer is served well, they feel satisfied and happy with the company and thus have a positive opinion about it. A happy customer is a return customer. On the other hand, if a customer is not served well, they will feel disappointed and not valued, thus will have a negative opinion about the company. After consuming the product or service. For instance, a customer buys a product hoping that it will do what the company claims it will. When it doesn’t meet his expectations, he feels disappointed and thus forms a negative opinion about the entire company. But if he is happy with the results, he views the company positively and raves about it. In this digital era, you can quickly analyze your consumer’s sentiments by opinion mining. This is simply tracking their moods toward your products/services through their posts, tweets, reviews, and comments. It can either be negative or positive or a combination of the two, they are all good depending on what you do after receiving the analysis. If you have never thought about reading between the lines of your customer’s feedback, the time to start is NOW. Here are 3 little known ways that these findings affect your business:- 1. New/modification of your product When you are planning to introduce a new product into the market, you always undertake market research through surveys and focus groups. The feedback you receive helps in the product design, but the most important information that will help you is from customer reviews after the launch. What sentiments do they have towards the products and your company? It helps you go back to the drawing board and develop an entirely new product or modify it. You know this is of utmost importance because consumers and growth are the lifeblood of your business and there is no better way to grow than in the direction the consumers want. Let us see how you can use consumer positive or negative sentiment to drive product/service development. Positive sentiment : Case in point, Etech Global Services. It started off with one service: a telecommunication consumer call center. The clients and consumers were happy with the services and their positive sentiments facilitated the introduction of other services like chat, email, social, and software development. It is now an omnichannel contact center able to meet the needs of a larger clientele from different industries across all communication channels. Negative sentiment : For example, if you launch an app and some customers respond by saying it “crashes too often” or “it takes too long to start” then you can turn this negative review to your advantage. You use it to modify the app by eliminating the shortcomings and, viola, you have a great product that consumers love. 2. Damage/build your business reputation Consumers always share their sentiments with their friends, family, and other consumers. Positive comments and reviews about your products will definitely build your business by attracting new customers. I consider this word-of-mouth advertising which is the most effective method of advertising, and to add icing to the cake, it is absolutely free. On the other hand, negative comments and reviews (word of mouth) can severely damage your reputation in a matter of seconds. For example, a customer can post about a bad experience they had with an agent and the thread starts, within a short time it becomes the trending thread, and some customers who were initially satisfied with the company, all of sudden become extremely unhappy. What do you think these negative sentiments will do to your business reputation? It will definitely damage it. I recently published an article on managing your reputation, read it here. Please remember the old saying, “a happy customer tells one friend, and an unhappy customer tells the world” 3. Turn potential customers into loyal customers Before a customer makes the final buying decision, they ask around to know the experiences of others. When they actually go out and buy it, the aim is to validate what they heard about the product. If it turns out to be right, they become loyal customers. For example, if I recently traveled and wanted to eat somewhere different, I went online and looked at the available options. To narrow them down, I read the online customer reviews and settled on the one that had the highest rating. I was not disappointed and anytime I visit that town, I will always go there. All around us are potential customers who would benefit from our products or services. What they have heard about you, can make the difference in whether or not they use our products or services. When they come to you, how they will feel will determine if they will return or not. What every manager wants is to turn potential customers into not just one-time consumers but loyal customers. Positive online customer sentiments work in your favor by bringing potential customers to you. It is now up to you to either meet their high expectations and convert them or disappoint them and lose them forever. There you go, these are the ways that consumer sentiments affect your business: new development or modification of products, building or damaging your reputation, and turning potential customers into loyal customers. You have the power to direct the feelings of your customers and thus their sentiments. How have consumer sentiments affected your business? This blog was first published on LinkedIN

The Impact of Call Monitoring and Score Cards in the Call Center

Any opportunity to improve call center operations is worth taking. Call monitoring and scorecards top the list. Call monitoring is a feature that allows you to listen in to a live call and track what matters most to the call center. The scorecard is a call scoring evaluation form that keeps track of agent’s performance. The data you gather using these two tools will help you optimize your call center operations. However, you need to use them effectively lest they mislead your strategy. Agents are the contact persons, and therefore, when they improve their performance, call center excels. Let us get into the details of the influence of call monitoring and scorecards have in the call center. A better understanding of agents’ performance For research or a study to be credible, you need to carry out both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Call monitoring gives you the qualitative data while scorecards give you the quantitative data. When you monitor agent’s live calls, you will gather instant information about what they do well and what needs improvement. That is a qualitative study. When you record their performance in the scorecard, you can know quantitatively how the agent is performing. In the end, you will know the areas the agent struggles with and thus focus on how to improve them as well as commend them for areas they are excelling. Highlighting training needs As you monitor agent’s calls and record the findings, you will notice areas that need training. The purpose of listening live to the agents is not to catch them doing something wrong, but to highlight weakness areas that require training and development. The data you collect will help the agents understand the matter better, and the best ways of handling the issue. In addition to highlighting the skills gap among your agents, call monitoring and scoring are part of your best training tools. Tracking Progress After training your agents, you need a medium of tracking their progress. You need to know whether the training was beneficial or not. The scorecards will keep a record of your agents’ performance, and thereby give you an indication of the quality standards. Use calibration sessions to help you customer service representatives understand their progress at work. A successful session will guide your team to areas that are on track as per the set standards and those that are lagging behind. Knowing where you stand and where you want to be will you the motivation to focus on the right things. Improved coaching sessions Part of a manager’s role is to coach the employees. When you sit down with an agent and review one of their interactions with a customer, they will get a better understanding of how they are performing. It will also make your work easier as you try to highlight what they are doing wrong. The coaching sessions are great for the employee to look within for answers under your guidance. When they come up with a solution, they will implement it better as compared to when you impose one on them. The coaching session will be successful for you and the agent. Improved customer satisfaction Agents’ performance affects customer satisfaction levels. All the above points lead to an extremely skilled agent, happy and satisfied with their jobs. When a happy employee serves a customer, he or she receives excellent support leading to high satisfaction levels. To repeat this cycle, you need to carry out call monitoring and keeping scorecards on a regular basis. Carrying out call monitoring and scoring will benefit the call center in several ways, a better understanding of your agent’s performance, highlighting training needs, tracking progress, improved coaching sessions, and improved customer satisfaction. To continually offer quality services and maintain an efficient quality assurance program, you should keep these two tools at the core of your analysis. You will create a ripple effect where every stakeholder remains satisfied. For more advice on creating a world class quality program that drives customer experience or if you would like to learn more about Etech Global Services, feel free to contact me. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

Four Ways to Boost Customer Experience

Customer care representatives are a necessity to any company offering customer experiences. Because they are at the forefront, they determine the kind of service customers enjoy or otherwise. Best-In-Class organizations realize this fact and work to turn this service resource into a critical asset. This is done most effectively through engaging and empowering the customer care representatives. An empowered employee will be motivated to deal with any obstacle as long as they resolve customers’ issues and protect the company image. He or she will strike a balance in the service delivery because they understand the organization’s standards as well as the needs and expectations of the customers. Here are tips and practices that will help boost front-line performance leading to excellent customer experiences. Measure Current Performance : It is essential to know your current performance situation. What are your front-line employees doing to deliver exceptional customer experiences? Someone once wrote, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” You need to know where you are going and where you are, for success path mapping. Most companies have customer service goals and measuring tools in place. However, you need to align the metrics to the brand standards for exceptional experiences. Utilize all the available resources to ensure that you measure the essential performance metrics. Give Individual Feedback : For the highest impact, you need to monitor each employee and how he or she interacts with the customers. You may have a script and have trained them on call and chat etiquette, but subsequent to training, you need to monitor each employee and give feedback accordingly. Acknowledge and reward the agents that are doing well and encourage and train those who are lagging behind. Constant monitoring allows you to notice low-quality interactions and therefore, react before it gets out of hand. When you correct an employee immediately, it helps him or her to change and act in line with the corporate standards. In a large contact center, this might be a challenge given the high number of agents. You can overcome it by holding calibration sessions and group coaching with a few agents at a time. Encourage Accountability : Accountability stems from taking responsibility. When an agent understands and owns his or her role in the customer experience chain, then they will be accountable not only to themselves but also to the company. You can know whether your employees are responsible during individual coaching sessions. A responsible agent will acknowledge their errors and suggest behavior changes that would ensure it does not happen again faced with similar circumstances. However, if an agent cannot see where they went wrong, they have yet to embrace accountability. Another great way to check for accountability is through customer surveys. After every interaction, the agents should administer the short survey to get customer feedback. When you use the above sources of information well, you will know the areas that require enhancement measured against performance metrics. Incorporate Supporting Teams : Front-line employees do not work alone; a variety of teams support their efforts. For example, the technical team is a crucial part of the customer experience process in a product oriented contact center. Analyze the performance of all the supporting departments to know the weak and strong links. Strengthening all teams will ensure that customers experience the company as “one” not departments. Free knowledge sharing and working together to achieve organizational goals as far as customer service is concerned will keep you ahead of the competition. The aim is offer consistent experiences to the customer. In summary, when you measure employees’ current performance state, individualize feedback, encourage accountability and incorporate the supporting teams in the process, you will be on the right track to higher-quality customer experiences. Your goal should be to measure, review and refine agents’ performance. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

The Effects of Live Chat Integration on the Customer Experience

A great customer experience can enhance the value and length of the consumer and merchant relationship. Each product in a marketplace has to be a better or more affordable substitute, tying commercial success to service. Businesses that roll out sophisticated customer experience tactics to add value to their offerings with giveaways, enhanced services, loyalty-based bonuses, live chat, and up- or cross-selling are quickly becoming leaders in the customer service industry. Defining Customer Service Customer service is the interaction between organization and customers. While there are many different definitions, there isn’t a right or a wrong interpretation because what makes customer service good depends heavily on what meets consumer expectations. Customer Experience Ideologists Top industry experts drive innovative strategies for enhancing the customer experience. They create client-centered philosophies for businesses to leverage the emotional aspects of the experience. Some of the top influential people and their service-oriented industry tactics include: Shep Hyken – Supports developing a culture and loyalty mindset to enable clients to share experiences and promote your products on social networks Colin Shaw – Predicts trends for reducing shopping cart abandonment Ken Varga – Believes aligning relevant advertising efforts prompts customers to buy what they’re researching Donna Fluss – Offers free, valuable advice for integrating customer relationship management software in support centers for quality assurance to optimize customer experiences Hank Brigman – Communicating offerings through newsletters, advertising, and word of mouth achieves the goal of being omnipresent A successful customer-centered corporate culture utilizes the services of a dedicated customer experience manager to focus on the emotional aspects of interactions to communicate relevant information. Influencers and the Wow Effect Formula The difference between influencers and ideologists is fuzzy. It may seem that influencers concentrate more on enhancing whatever fun there is to have and less on revenue. In the long run, they influence customer expectations and drive companies to introduce innovative customer-centered mechanisms into action. These people flourish in the social media environment, taking advantages of various platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and social video channels including YouTube to share their thoughts on the customer experience. Influence as a Marketing Tool Not all influencers are published authors or professionals. Anyone who creates ideas and concepts and strategizes on leveraging the customer experience to drive revenue and satisfaction is considered an influencer. For instance, Joseph Michelli, a keynote speaker, focuses on the Wow effect, which is a descriptive designation for a large customer experience goal. He found that 70 percent of customers indicate five main touchpoints for recommending products to others: Engagement: Genuine acknowledgment and care of consumer needs Executional Excellence: Outstanding quality and product knowledge Brand Experience: Ensuring customers believe they’re getting a deal Expediting: Proactively caring about the consumer during the shopping process Problem Recovery: Assurance of satisfaction and compensation Interestingly, engagement and brand experience are the only two touchpoints significantly impacting loyalty. Should a company decide to increase these key performance indicators, it can use techniques such as gamification, an online marketing technique to encourage engagement, or customer support empowerment to feed its culture into the community. This blog was written by Jim Iyoob, EVP Customer Experience and Operational Excellence for Etech Global Services. Connect with me here https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimiyoob

Seven Stages of Design Thinking; An Essential Tool for Customer Experience Manager

Design thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. It draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systematic reasoning to explore possibilities of what could be and to create desired outcomes that benefit the customer. However, looking at the above elaborate definition, it is a great process for managers to adopt not just designers. In regards to a customer experience manager, the process allows you to think from the customers’ perspective. How is the customers’ life and how does he or she encounter the company. The marketplace is customer-driven. Your products and services should create value and meet their needs. The only way to understand what they need, how they need it, when they need it and what is of value to them is to involve them in the product life cycle. Here are the seven stages of design thinking Stage 1: Understand the Customer The first step is to understand the end user because they are the core of the design thinking process. Empathize to understand their experiences fully with your products and services. Employ all possible means to comprehend their experiences from observing to interacting with them. Your aim should be to experience your products and services the same way they are. Stage 2: Definition You now know your customer and can define the problems they are facing. In this step, it is crucial to describe clearly the problems and identify the success factors. Otherwise, you will not know when you arrive at your destination. A plainly defined problem will set the pace for the rest of the process. Stage 3: Research Do not leave any stones unturned, dig through previous work done in regards to solving those problems. Research helps you to understand the genesis of a particular problem and tried and tested solutions and the outcome. You need to make sense of everything you find out as you research. However, if it is a new issue, then you have the opportunity to document it well. Stage 4: Ideation With the research findings in place, put your imagination and intuition to work. Conduct brainstorming meetings with other managers and employees to come up with possible solutions to resolve the identified issues. Do not limit yourselves to the obvious ways, dig deeper into ideas that may seem unachievable. The goal at this stage is to have a broad range of ideas. Encourage each participant to float their idea and record all of them. Stage 5: Prototype Next, put your wide range of ideas to test. You need to expand them, combine some, refine others and reject others. Give them a physical form that moves them from un-achievable to realistic ideas. It will allow you to interact and experience the solutions before presenting them to the customers. Remember; you are wearing the customers’ shoes, and you understand what they want from your organization. Stage 6: Select and Implement The above rigorous process will be futile if you do not get to apply the suitable solutions. Start with the most powerful solutions from the selected prototypes. Do not just focus on the practical ones, but on the ideas with the highest impact on the issue at hand. As you implement the prototypes, record the results of customer experiences. Stage 7: Learn Finally, yet importantly, learn from the users. Which solutions solved the problem fast? Which did not? Which ones needed improvement? Your aim is to refine your prototypes to be the best solutions. After your review, do not leave the findings at that, improve the prototypes for the benefit of the customer. In conclusion, design thinking can help you look at problems in a different way and discover solutions that would otherwise remain hidden. Using the above seven stages, you can revolutionize the way you develop customer experience strategies. Design thinking is your secret weapon to finding solutions to difficult customer issues.

Is Your Call Center Ready to Adopt Integrated Customer Engagement?

Call center environments are constantly changing with the trends, just like any other business in this century. To keep up with the trends and meet customers where they are you need to embrace practical strategies. To start, consider who you are, where you want to go, your capacity and your customers’ profile. To integrate means to combine one thing with another so that they become a whole. Integrated customer engagement involves interacting with customers via a single face as opposed to several channels. It is a harmonized operational model that ensures you respond to customers in a preferred manner. The 21st century has expedited the evolution of call centers from multi-channel to Omni-channel interactions, driven by your customers’ journey with you, which is more vibrant, non-stop and easily reached. Most call centers became contact centers to accommodate the above changes. Are you ready to adopt an integrated approach to meeting customers’ needs? Here are some key signs you are ready to adopt a seamless customer experience: 1. Channel Ownership Challenges If you are currently struggling with channel ownership, whereby, agents in the voice department only know how to work the phones or the live chat agents only know how to interact with customers in that way then it is time to align your services. Your agents should be well-rounded because customers may reach out through various platforms before a problem is resolved. For example a customer may connect with you via email, but due to the complexity of their issue require a phone call. If you have to redirect them to someone else then you waste time and the customer will have to explain their issue all over again. When you align your offerings, the customer can get assistance from one agent. The faster a customer gets support, the higher his or her satisfaction level. 2. Technological challenges For your call center to deliver on commitments you rely heavily on technology. If you are at the point of having several systems, separate customer relationship management for each department, multiple sources of data for performance evaluation, several routing options and lots of contact management, you should consider an Omni-channel strategy. Managing different departments that handle various aspects of customer support can be stressful for you, not to mention costly for your company. When you streamline your operations you can also optimize your operations. 3. Operational challenges The day-to-day running of a call center requires proper planning. If you feel you are expending too much energy streamlining operations in different departments, and how they relate to each other, then you need a different strategy. Likewise if you are spending too much time trying to marry data from different departments to understand your customer v. spending that time satisfying your customer, focusing on an Omni-solution could be your answer. Complex department structures can also affect customer satisfaction. The back and forth of checking which channel is lagging behind and evaluating performance is taxing. With a simple, streamlined end-to-end process, your operations will be seamless and thus increase your ability to keep agent and customer effort low and satisfaction high. If your call center is experiencing the above challenges, not all is lost. Here is how you can start the implementation process:- Plan – chart your course from where you are to where you want to go. Every key stakeholder should be involved in the planning process for it to incorporate every aspect. Act – after thorough planning, ensure you put the plans into action. Allocate the necessary resources; undertake training and use your strategy document as your guide. Optimize – evaluate your performance and improve areas that will give customers superior experiences as well as achieve corporate goals. In summary, integrated customer interactions will affect your center in a positive way. When you resolve the channel ownership, technological and operational challenges, you will be on the right track to implementing an Omni-channel strategy. This blog was first published on LinkedIn

The Effect of Training on the Multi-channel Environment

The connected consumer has changed the way businesses communicate, especially because of their high expectations. What are these expectations? Consumers need to hear from you when they want to and through their channel of choice. The implication of this heightened expectation is that you have to be accessible on all communication channels. Simply put, you need to have a multi-channel communication strategy. Multi-channel communication goes beyond the traditional customer care hotline to include email, social media platforms, mobile, live chat, and self-service options. Does your contact center support your multi-channel communication strategy? If yes, how prepared are they to handle all customer demands and offer a seamless customer experience? These are important questions which is why contact center management puts a lot of effort into people development through training the agents. The following is a detailed analysis of the effects of trained agents as part of your business. Increased Staff Loyalty Call centers employ a large number of agents and training them well takes huge amounts of resources. It is always a win-win situation when agents are loyal to the company. Training of agents in multi-channel communication helps them to find their work more interesting and diverse. With multi-channel communication there is no monotony to say answering calls all day long, day in, day out. An agent can take a hypothetical break from the phone when responding to an email inquiry. They become rounded agents – thus can step in when the demand from one channel increases. This keeps them happy with their work environment and prevents them from looking for the proverbial greener pastures. Enhanced Teamwork Without proper teamwork, your agents will not be effective and efficient especially in the multi-channel environment that gives them access to several touch points. Agents that work for and through each other achieve tremendous results in a shorter time. Teamwork begins at the individual level. If an agent feels good about his work environment and teammates, he does his best to make the environment even better. This training exposes them to numerous opportunities of learning, developing, and building a solid career in the call center. With the diverse knowledge gained, agents are able to switch roles easily. Empowered Agents An empowered agent is one who has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the company. For example, an agent that is allowed to provide customers refunds up to a certain level without consulting with the manager is empowered. This agent takes full responsibility seeing that customer concerns are resolved within the shortest time possible. Training agents in the various ways they can offer the desired customer service instills in them trust in their capabilities of satisfying customers. They go the extra mile and are more devoted to their duties. This empowerment increases productivity, lowers operating costs, and helps them to embrace change easily. To management, empowered agents are easier to lead which provides more time to be dedicated to the strategic advancement of the call center. Increased Customer Satisfaction The essence of a call center is offer customer service support and ensure the customer receives the best experience. Well-trained agents offer a superior customer experience and are well equipped to handle questions and issues of all types and resolve them quickly. Have you ever talked to a customer care representative who was not helpful; especially in regards to the information you required, either due to the lack of right information or poor customer care? That experience leaves you dissatisfied with the company and more often than not, they lose you as a customer. However, when you are satisfied, you become their brand advocate. In conclusion, training your agents in the multi-channel environment is beneficial to all stakeholders. The effects are increased staff loyalty, enhanced teamwork, and empowered agents which all lead to increased customer satisfaction. As Aristotle, the ancient Greek scientist and philosopher said, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Therefore, continuous training of agents ensures excellent customer service is provided across the multi-channels. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

How to Implement a Culture of Collaboration and Communication

Collaboration and communication are both essential to a good customer experience. It may sound obvious, but there are several areas in which a basic lack of either one often leads to a breakdown in customer service. Internal Communication Internal communication is the basis for all effective customer interaction. If your team members do not understand what the company stands for, what the relevant policies are, what products and services are offered or what their individual roles within the company are, they will not be able to provide a positive customer experience. Do not assume that new hires will retain everything presented in an initial training session. Plan for ongoing roundtable discussions and have an open-door policy so that two-way communication becomes the norm. Communicating Company Values Your company’s vision and mission should be printed up for everyone to see. You will also want to make sure that each team member understands these statements and clearly sees how he or she fits into the overall workings of the company. In addition to being displayed in print, your values should be reflected in your company culture and communicated to your customer base by means of your policies and daily operations. Communicating Policy Your company’s policies on various issues should be clearly written and accessible for your employees to review. However, more than simply publishing a policy list is required. To effectively communicate policy, you must help your team to understand the rules and how and when they are applied. Each team member should be able to clearly explain various policies to customers in an easy-to-understand manner. Informing Customer Expectations Clear communication on the part of your brand should result in customer experiences that align with expectations. This is where accurately communicating your values, policies and standard procedures to your team directly pays off. For example, if you sell physical products and have a strict return policy, that policy should be clearly stated in sales materials. Your sales team should also understand how the prospect of future returns affects the sales process and should inform the customer about the policy ahead of time. If a customer enters into a transaction with full knowledge of whether or not the sale is refundable, he or she will not be taken by surprise if a future return is not accepted. Setting clear customer expectations is a major factor in customer satisfaction and retention, even if problems do arise with a product or service. The Value of Collaboration Collaboration involves communication but takes it one step further. To maintain a collaborative environment, all parties must work together toward a common goal. Now that you have laid the groundwork by creating an atmosphere of open communication, you can foster collaboration by asking for team members’ input on important decisions. You can also collaborate with customers when appropriate, such as when planning a new product or service or participating in a community event. No organization can hope to optimize its customer experience without laying a foundation of open communication and collaboration. Doing so involves both internal and external relations and is an ongoing process, but all the hard work pays off in the long run.

Transforming Customer Care with Four C’s

Many components must be carefully orchestrated for business success, none of which is more critical than Customer Service. Customer care has evolved over the last couple of years primarily due to digital advancements. To set yourself apart, you need to incorporate the 4C’s, which stand for customer experience, conversation, content, and collaboration. Look at them as pillars that hold your client service together. Working on these components in unison and actively managing them will transform your business. Let us examine these four elements and the ways you can use them as a competitive advantage. Customer Experience Customer experience is the product of interaction between a customer and an organization over the duration of the relationship. It reflects how the customer feels about the company and its products. Customer experiences are conversation starters because customers will talk about your products and the customer service they receive from you. If they are happy, they will talk positively about you and thus, build your business. If they are dissatisfied, they do not talk about it, and when they do, it will damage your business. Therefore, giving your customers great experiences is an investment to the company. To transform your business, generate positives conversations with customers by offering superior products and excellent customer service. Bring the same offerings you are giving offline to your online platforms. Social media is a powerful tool for reaching all your customers at once. Drive positive conversations with your customers by managing their customer experiences. Happy and satisfied customers grow from being loyal to becoming brand advocates. Conversation Conversation is the exchange of ideas between people. Customers have discussions with employees via the various platforms from phone to social media. Conversations build on customer experiences and go the extra mile observing, facilitating and participating in the discussions. Real and meaningful conversations take place when the employees are helpful to the customers. They seek to understand better their issues as well as offering them solutions. Actively participating in discussions on social media brings you closer to the customers and gives you a human face. Begin by listening to your customers – what are they asking? What tone are they using? What matters more to them? – And respond appropriately. Following these conversations will help you understand customers better and thus direct your product development and content strategy. Content Content is the information and communication you present to your customers. It should be relevant, fresh, reliable and accurate. You can orchestrate your content to generate conversations in the direction you want it to go. You cannot afford to leave the course of conversations with your customers; create a content sharing strategy. The content you share determines customer perception towards your organization. Do you position yourself as an expert in your field? Does your content help customers understand you and your products? Does it create value? Your content should accomplish these tasks and much more. Have a dedicated team to develop and implement a content sharing strategy. They should monitor social media conversation 24/7, and answer customers in a timely and relevant way. Remember, great content will grow your reach. Collaborations Collaboration is working together to achieve a common business objective. The goal, in this case, it exceptional customer service thus the company and customers should work together. When you loop in customers, they will freely offer their assistance to grow your business. The involvement helps them feel important, valued and appreciated, which will increase their commitment to the organization. A customer will be proud to be associated with a great company and will spread the positive word around as well as defend you where necessary. Create communities on social media and let customers interact with each other in a safe and controlled environment. That sense of belonging will go a long way to transforming your business into a success story. In summary, these four components – customer experience, conversation, content, and collaboration – intertwine to utilize the power of the people and social media. You cannot have one without the other. Follow these Best Practices today and avoid gaps in your customer service strategy.

4 Ways Live Chat Can Improve the Success of Your Online Business

Managing a successful online business is hard work. Although everything operates on the internet, your success hinges solely on whether you can attract customers and generate sales. Live chat customer services are enabling businesses everywhere a way to reconnect with customers to increase sales and customer satisfaction. Improve Customer Experience Live chat offers customers the assistance and convenience they need when accessing your sites. Customers enjoy the convenience that comes from being online, but when they need answers, they often find they have nothing and no one to turn to. Customers don’t want to spend their time looking for information on products and services they feel should be readily available. Make live chat services available for customers to use and significantly transform customer experience in the following ways: Reduces wait times. Eliminates the hassles of phone calls. Increases customer satisfaction. Increases product and service sales. Reduce Operational Expenses In this day and age, businesses are finding it challenging to maintain a balance between operational expenses and profits. Organizations large and small are feeling the pinch and are constantly looking for ways to minimize their expenses. Adding website customer service can help online businesses everywhere to stop the loss of valuable time, money and resources. Benefits of online customer services include: Increase employee productivity. Increase flexibility and remote capabilities. Reduce overhead expenses and equipment costs. Employees are less likely to waste time on the phone and utilize more of their energies in the chat system. Customers receive more attention, faster responses, and assistance, thus improving the overall quality of information and services they receive from your company. Reduce Bounce Rates to Increase Sales When customers go to a website for a product or service, they don’t always have all of the information they need to make an informed purchase decision. In many cases, they are confused and may still have questions that could trip them up during the purchase process. Customers need guidance, reassurance, and information to encourage them to purchase. When there are online chat customer services available for them to provide these features, your bounce rate will drop, and sales will skyrocket. Online chat services also present the perfect opportunity for cross sales to increase your profits even more. Gain Useful Insight One great way to gain an edge and improve customer experience is to add the live chat feature to your websites. Customers are no longer calling in to complain when they have a problem. Many of them are rushing to tell their peers and post on social media how displeased they were without giving businesses a chance to rectify the situation. Live chat offers customers a way to make their complaints heard so they can be acknowledged and resolved. In turn, you can take the feedback that you receive from your customers and use it to create better products and services, and even tweak your website to better meet the needs of your customers. Considerations To improve the effectiveness of your chat services, make sure that your representatives are very knowledgeable and resourceful enough to find the answers they need to properly assist customers. All responses should be personable and relevant. Don’t turn off customers with robotic responses that don’t really address their concerns. Encourage employees to ask for the sale each and every time. Generating sales through chat offers customers a concierge-like experience that incentivizes them to return and do business again. Test different chat software before selecting the best option for your business. Train your team and be ready to make adjustments as needed to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of your chat services. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

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