Customer Experience

Improving the Customer Experience With Personalization

Customer service has long been a cornerstone of business success and, in a way, this is never going to change. What has changed is the way we think and talk about the experiences customers have with the companies they choose to patronize. This comprehensive and dynamic perspective is what makes the field of customer experience a more effective approach than a straightforward focus on the delivery of service. Customer experience (CX) encompasses many nuances of interactions between companies and company representatives and their customers. Data gathered through analytics can help business leaders develop improved experiences for their customers but sometimes strong, lasting results can seem elusive. Personalization is an excellent way to rethink the cultivation of experience for customers. Furthermore, a more personalized approach can help various departments finally achieve CX goals that have not been met by using other strategies. A Closer Look at Personalization Personalized customer experience speaks directly to the way that customers behave when they interact with your company. The way that this personalized experience is delivered to customers naturally varies from one company to another but certain commonalities exist. For instance, customer feedback is often solicited with the help of messaging that reflects the particulars of a customer’s recent past behavior. This high degree of personalization is made possible through careful tracking and record-keeping systems. Data collection is can be a very neglected part of CX development even though this information provides direct insight into customer activity, including emerging patterns of behavior. In short, personalization can accomplish a few key outcomes, including: Generating prompt customer response to requests for feedback Driving the submission of reviews and ratings Initiating personal contact following a customer’s experience with a brand or product As these examples will show, the effort put into personalization can have very positive benefits for a company seeking CX improvement. Personalized Customer Feedback After a transaction has been completed, customers can be sent a feedback form. Personalized data can be used to inquire about specific products or services purchased by the customer; other specifics about the transaction, such as on-time delivery, can also be used in the messaging of these feedback forms. Responsive Thank You Notes Thank you notes can also be personalized with the same details that make feedback forms stand out. In fact, certain systems even allow the display of different responses based on feedback from input; for instance, customers can be thanked for purchasing a service contract and receive information regarding the date of the first scheduled engagement. Highly positive feedback can trigger a screen or note encouraging customers to leave a review online. This is a good way to increase the number of reviews left for a company or service because customers are at their most engaged at this moment in the experience cycle. Initiating Personalized Follow-Up Certain customer responses lead naturally to follow-up from a customer service agent or other company representative. This contact is perhaps most commonly associated with dissatisfactory customer experiences but this can follow many different kinds of feedback. Agents can confirm contracted service scheduling and other matters with this personalized contact. Personalization is a natural way to improve CX outcomes and meet goals identified with CX experts within your organization. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

4 Ideas To Offer Exceptional Customer Experience Through Social Media

Are your clients on social media? Do you relate with them? The key to actually making use of social media for multichannel customer support is to concentrate, take action and make the most advantage of what your network tells you to improve productivity. Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have advanced to emerge as more than new platforms for advertising and publicity. They are additionally legit and vital channels through which consumers solicit and get multichannel customer support. About half of United States, purchasers uses social media to make inquiries, report satisfaction, or to make complaints and a 3rd of social media users opt for “social care” to the phone. “Social care” is not a brand new idea, yet offering multichannel customer support that includes social media can become real demanding situations for call centers both large and small—as well as possibilities to impact productivity and consumer loyalty. The truth is that multichannel customer support expectations are growing yearly and clients are looking for call centers to create a seamless experience that spans the showroom floor to the Facebook timeline. Only having a social media presence is no longer enough; you need to be a social media celebrity to enhance productivity. In this article, you’ll find out four ways to offer excellent multichannel customer support via social media. 1. Be Where Your Customers are One of the primary challenges to providing a strong multichannel customer support over social media is figuring out where to direct your time and resources. While advertising and marketing efforts might drive visitors to targeted social sites, customer service groups have to meet their clients where they are already socializing. For most call centers, Facebook and Twitter will be the primary target for social care, but some call center may discover that their clients also use Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, or other social websites frequently. To determine where your customers are, look for mentions of your call center in popular social media. Whether that is an initial step toward growing a social media presence or something your marketing department already did, it’s a big mistake to leave dialogue about your call center solely to online commenter’s and the Google search set of rules. If you discover that clients are not yet speaking about your call center online, look for ways to include yourself in conversations related to call centers. The way to be welcomed into social conversations is to add value. Because of the customer and not the call center wields the most power over a call center image on social media, the bottom line is that neglecting conversations that arise on websites like Facebook and Twitter may have astonishing consequences. Conversocial said that 88% of consumers are less in all likelihood to buy from an organization that leaves questions on social media unanswered. 2. Ask for Feedback Leverage offline channels to promote online reviews. If you’ve got a call center, an e-mail database or different platforms where your company communicates with clients, ask customers to recollect leaving reviews for your social channels. You can inspire customers to publish on Facebook or leave a comment online. Keep in thoughts that some review sites like Yelp have guidelines that state corporations can not explicitly ask customers to leave comments. 3. Solve Issues Promptly Another way to make your customers happy and show them you care is to address any problems right away, whether or not it’s a query or a complaint. That is, continuously tracking social media accounts so you can see remarks and reply as soon as it’s being posted. Set up a unique business policy with detailed steps to exhibit the way you want to handle complaints. Take it a step ahead and try to apprehend why your client had an issue or question in the first place, and take note of how regularly he or she contacts your business. When you make an unhappy client into a satisfied one, you get a brand advocate as a result thus increasing your productivity. Also, in case your company meets itself in a social media crisis, irrespective of the type or origin, own up to it and deal with it immediately. Your customers’ persistence and the experience in general receives challenges mostly during issues times. Identify keywords and set up signals to stay on top of the situation. Direct clients to an online crisis center with useful links for current information so that they feel cared for and updated. A social media crisis is the moment of reality for any company. It can both make or destroy your business, so take it very seriously and manage it. 4. Share Customer Insights Share client remarks in your organization. Use the “What, So What and Now What” framework to share applicable and beneficial customer insights with different departments of your company. Depending on your enterprise’s size, right here are some departments you may want to talk with: Give the studies and development team a heads-up about product issues. Talk to your company’s legal group about possible lawsuits or the particular customers to watch out for. Share with the executive group any facts about marketplace positioning and competitor product announcements which is making social buzz. Conclusion Managing customer service on social channels can be hard. To be successful, you need to have a great customer support tactics at hand. Also, pay very close attention to community comments to guide your business goals from introducing new products based totally on consumer demand to developing a great brand notion. Since social media is now people’s number one platform of getting in touch with brands, it’s more essential than ever to be in total control of your social media presence. Customer experience is beneficial in improving customer satisfaction. Be nice to your customers, listen to them and they will become loyal to you and your call center.

5 Strategies to Help Improve Customer Experience With Speech Analytics

Call centers are constantly searching for new ways to boost their customer experience and customer service capabilities, and advanced technology, specifically speech analytics, can provide call centers more insight into their customers as well as their desires. Speech analytics is the process of analyzing recorded calls to gather customer information to improve communication and future interaction. When used correctly, such analytics can give your call center a distinct advantage and make everyone’s job that much easier. Here are five effective strategies for boosting customer experience with powerful analytics. 1. Get to the Root of Customer Displeasure Sometimes when a customer contacts your contact center, he or she will tell you exactly what the issue is. Other times, the explanation might be vague or simply misunderstood by the employee taking the call. Analytics are designed to remove the confusion from the equation so you know exactly why a customer is unhappy. Speech analytics tools accomplish this by studying the caller’s voice to pinpoint language that indicates displeasure, raised tones and over talk. This enables employees to resolve issues faster and to the caller’s satisfaction. 2. Pinpoint and Resolve Issues That Lead to Inefficiency We live in a world where you have quick and easy access to products and services, which means that callers expect quick resolutions, which lead to better customer experience. Leaving someone on hold for a second longer than necessary could result in a disgruntled customer. Analytics is made to examine holds and long stretches of silence to determine what’s going wrong. Whatever the problem might be, it can be better resolved with the right analytics program. 3. Target Offers to the Right Caller and Customer One size does not fit all. Rather than taking the shotgun approach when it comes to suggesting offers to customers, speech analytics allows you to pinpoint customers who are more likely to respond favorably to specific offers. What happens is analytics can uncover purchasing habits and trends to determine which offers an individual person is most likely to respond to. Now you can better target your marketing and advertising efforts without wasting time, resources or energy. 4. Better Call Center Agents Make for Happier Customers Analytics is just as beneficial for call center agents as it is for callers. Managers are able to listen in on agents to see how well they adhere to any mandatory scripting, company policy or standards they should follow. The data gathered through analytics can be used to better train current as well as future call center agents, making them more effective and confident in their jobs. 5. Keep Customers Coming Back When customers feel they are not being well taken care of, they are likely to take their business elsewhere. The data gathered by analytics can be used to better satisfy customers and keep them coming back to your company, boosting overall loyalty. Something else to think about is the fact that satisfied customers are more likely to tell other people about your company, which can bring in new business and even more satisfied customers. Speech analytics can provide a huge boost to your business. Be sure you have a solid plan of action for your software and ensure you are using the tool to its full potential.

How to Improve Customer Experience Through Effective Quality Monitoring

Companies are always looking for effective and cost-efficient ways to improve their bottom line, and one of the best ways to do that is by improving the customer experience. After all, it does not make much sense to offer the best products or services in your industry if your customers are not happy. Focusing more on quality assurance through quality monitoring can both help improve your customer experience and gather feedback to improve your products and services. The Facts Let’s look at some of the facts and figures associated with the current state of customer service. Research has shown that roughly 20 percent of consumers place price over customer service, nearly 40 percent of consumers do not reach out to the companies they do business with, and customers who do reach out don’t do so very often.   What this data shows is that a majority of shoppers are willing to pay more for a product if the company is known for having great customer service. This means that a company should make sure their customer service is of the same caliber as the prices they’re asking for their services or products. If customers spend top dollar on an expensive product but have trouble getting in touch with someone who can answer a simple question, they’re unlikely to continue to do business with that company. Moreover, those individuals are likely to leave bad reviews and share their experiences on social media, which can cost the company future business.   When consumers are not reaching out to companies, part of the reason might be that they have had poor customer service experiences in the past. Companies have an opportunity to set the bar for customer service and change consumers’ minds about what excellent customer service is, which can make customers more willing to reach out to them in the future if they ever have questions or concerns. In order to understand what works with their customers, companies need to assume a proactive role in discovering what their customers are saying by monitoring those interactions for quality assurance. How Monitoring Solutions Work The central purpose of quality assurance is to gauge representative performance and determine Key Performance Indicator (KPI) or Key Success Indicators (KSI) metrics. These metrics help companies develop their definition of success and keep track of the behaviors that support that definition. One of the most essential things to bear in mind when it comes to KPI and KSI is that the metrics differ from company to company.   When cultivating indicator measurements, the monitoring solution gathers information such as the following: How many calls the customer service team or call center receives. The length of time it takes for representatives to answer calls. The number of customers pleased with the services they received. Even though customer service agents can potentially gather this information on their own, companies might prefer to implement software instead. The results are more accurate, easier to organize, more complete and free of personal opinion, which can skew the results. The results provided by software let companies know where they’re doing well in terms of customer services, which areas need improvement and whether there are potential opportunities of which they may not be aware. Properly Utilizing KPI and KSI Metrics To leverage the data generated by quality monitoring solutions, it’s not enough that you simply gather information; you have to know how to effectively use the data and engage your company hierarchy in the process.  In addition to sharing data with managers and department heads, front-line employees should also be included. Customer service agents are critical to the customer experience, so they need to understand the rationale behind putting new technology in place. Knowing you’re taking steps to make their jobs easier and giving them the tools they need can enhance their employee satisfaction levels and they may also have suggestions of their own about improving customer service.   Share the results of metrics both on an individual customer service agent level and on a team level. You can also use the results of the metrics and monitoring solution in future company decisions. For instance, the gathered data can help you decide which changes to your customer service department will be the most effective, and the metrics may even help with your next marketing campaign. Additional Steps for Effective Customer Service Improvement While using monitoring solutions is a great first step in making your customer service capabilities stronger, it’s only part of the equation. As you’re gathering, sharing and implementing data, be sure you ask customers and callers how they feel about your company’s customer service capabilities and alignment with promises made in your marketing or advertising. You might already know how difficult it can be to keep callers on the line, so give them a good reason to stick around such as a discount or a free service or product in exchange for their participation.   In addition to monitoring phone calls, it’s also best to monitor all other forms of customer communication. This is an especially good idea since a majority of today’s consumers prefer not to communicate over the phone. Gather data from live chat and email correspondences to discover valuable information, such as customer pain points. These pain points indicate the issues customers have with your products, services and your company in general. Customers may not call or communicate with you to specifically discuss these pain points but they can be elicited naturally in a conversation  and rather than brush the matter off, you can use it as an opportunity to make your company and customer service better. Customers will appreciate the fact that you actually listen to them, and your customer service representatives will be pleased that the issues are being resolved such that they will not have to hear the same pain point over and over.   There are always opportunities for your customer service agents to improve, and KPI metrics create an excellent baseline. You can look at

Top 5 Benefits of Speech Analytics to Make Your Brand Shine

Understanding why customers call and continue to call is actionable intelligence. It identifies the reasons behind behavior, and enables managers to take action that improve first-time call resolution. The same principle applies to customer attrition. Actionable steps can anticipate the causes of customer abandonment and provide them with valid reasons to return. Call center speech analytics is a valuable tool that for boosting customer satisfaction rates and improving the contribution to the organization’s success. The top five benefits of speech analytics include: Improving the consumer experience. Enhancing the consumer experience is a primary reason companies use call center speech analytics. Speech analytics software mines and analyzes audio data to detect elements such as stress and emotion in a customer’s voice. It also helps determine the purpose of the call, the products discussed, and more. Users can identify the needs, wants, and expectations quickly and work with the customer to satisfy them. Reducing operating expenses and increasing profitability. Speech analytics pays for itself in as little as three to six months by reducing call center costs and detecting cost savings. The technique circumvents extra expenses while generating incremental income. However, it requires a significant investment in resources and time up front to calibrate a speech analytics application successfully for a particular site. Monitoring and coaching call center agents to increase service quality. Call center speech analytics software enables managers to monitor agents and customers simultaneously to ensure that the agents adhere to scripts and meet regulatory requirements. Speech analytics technology is also valuable for helping agents improve call resolutions and reduce call volume. Operational and performance issues can be addressed and handled, resulting in overall enhanced service quality. Decreasing customer attrition. Many businesses notice a decline in customer attrition rates after implementing speech analytics. It can help companies identify the reasons customers leave, providing opportunities to make the changes necessary to ensure customers return. For instance, enhanced service quality results in improved customer satisfaction and experiences, giving consumers less reasons to leave. Identifying up- and cross-sell opportunities to boost revenue. Sales organizations can also benefit from speech analytics technology through the identification of up- and cross-sell opportunities, resulting in increased sales conversation rates. Sales managers can also analyze the data to determine the impact of a particular up- or cross-sell on a customer’s level of satisfaction, and identify offer response rates across various customer demographics. Real-time speech analytics applications can create personalized up- and cross-sell opportunities to satisfy a consumer’s distinct requirements. They can also track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Call center speech analytics drive quality monitoring and provide a unique perspective of the effectiveness of internal processes. It is a valuable technique to produce key performance indicators for comparing how different agents deal with various call types, allowing managers to focus their coaching efforts on real-time insight. The result is increased productivity and alignment of skill sets to consumer needs. Overall, call center speech analytics enable businesses to manage marketing campaign planning and deployment with extensive customer insight to enhance the effectiveness of their bottom line. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Artificial Intelligence: Behind-the-scenes tool to improve Customer Experience

Since its initiation, Artificial intelligence (AI) has grown by leaps and bounds. From getting used to simply gather information and predict effects, it’s now being utilized by companies as a major technology to create present day solutions throughout a variety of services. There has been a consistent increment in the amount of ‘Robots’ that can mimic cognitive services of the human mind, corresponding to situation-solving and responding to normal languages. Powered by developed Artificial Intelligence (AI), these machines at the moment are going prevalent. To meet up with the technologically-driven industry landscape, ultra-modern corporations are looking to leverage them into more than a few productive roles, specifically to handle the customers’ queries. The large amount of data we generate is a compounds blessing. It offers us better insight into human habits, but it’s additionally a lot more stuff to sort. For assisting us sort through our data, and make best use of it, we’ll turn to AI (artificial intelligence) for things as challenging as navigating the call center to simply deciding what the doggone temperature is outside. Artificial intelligence in the call center has become much more important in the last few years, leveraging tremendous data sets and predictive analytics for computerized, personalized customer service and on-demand agent coaching based on reporting. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Leverage user models to create an extraordinary customer experience User models, analysed from customer metric data, provide a detailed window into the service you render. These models can be utilized to create private experiences for customers of a call center. First, call centers have to accumulate this information through an analytics tool. Development teams can send consumer habits data from Mixpanel through an API. As soon as information has been gathered, the data can be fed to an algorithm to discern patterns depending on time-of-day, rate-of-rise/decline, or how the information correlates with other behaviours on the platform. The output of the algorithms can additionally loop back into how pages are provided to customers. A call center could improve customer experience by means of analysing what questions and response customers give simply before they come to a decision. Artificial Intelligence streamlines the process Customer Interaction simply entails making knowledge available to customers at their fingertips without asking them to move through hoops or several steps. We base it on what we already know about customers, and just like that! They get the super-targeted info. Actually, it is just making information available to customers in new approaches, lowering the hurdles that customers have to go through to get to the information. It can be as easy as what we learn from you, but additionally the trends that we get from other buyers like you. This exponentially improves customer experience. Artificial Intelligence for Customer Interactions Artificial intelligence is an amazing tool, and it’s going to evolve with time. Nevertheless, exclusively relying on AI to manage crucial sections of a call center, like customer interactions, could spell catastrophe. With the advance of channels that create connectivity and openness, customers are important to call centers stability and thus must be handled as such. Call centers can’t afford to make errors when interacting with them. In order to avert customer frustration as a result of lack of ability to resolve a setback efficiently in a customer’s channel of alternative, automatic processes must consistently exist in collaboration with human interaction. Customers are far too valuable to be handled alone by totally automated systems. Let’s face it; even some people have a tough time interacting with other humans well, typically due to a lack of emotional intelligence. Due to all those reasons, it will be irrational to anticipate an artificial intelligence system to execute and handle a customer interaction at a 100% satisfaction phases. However, with continuous advancement on this area and with suitable utilization, AI could aid call centers enhance their relationship with customers and take it to a higher level. I’m certain that as millennials strive for intelligent self-service and call centers seek automation, AI will continue to create a buzz in scientific circles in the future years. Personalised strategies The intention of the continuous study in Artificial Intelligence is to incorporate the advanced aspects like reasoning, conversation, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. When consumers can communicate with those intelligent systems, the interactions would have a couple of different results. Utilizing the information amassed from such communications between their AI systems and customers, call centers can customize the customer experience for every user. A call center can use the data to investigate the unique perception of a user after which the results can be used to build personalised options around his/her preferences. When promoted with right illustration, the customer tends to go for them and it might also help the call center increase its customer experience. AI-assisted Speech Recognition AI-aided speech recognition helps enhance customer experience. Key phrases can be noticed to set off service enhancements. The word “supervisor,” for example, would alert a supervisor to join a call and alleviate any problems with a customer. Systems can also be programmed to pay attention for competitor mentions. Financial institutions are experiencing same growth. Take a customer who typically calls the bank every Fridays to know her account balance. Utilizing AI, the bank possesses the intelligence to send the customer an automated message with her bank balance before the customer picks up the cellphone. By spotting behaviours and interaction patterns, a call center can decide upon the best channel for relating with customers. Not every customer requires a prolonged and private telephone call. Contacting via email or leaving an automated voicemail can be just as efficient in terms of customer satisfaction and is way less expensive than a live agent telephone call. It merely requires a figuring out of what each client prefers based on gathered data and demographics.

Why Speech Analytics is a Revolutionary Factor for Contact Center Quality Monitoring

Objectivity Contact center reliability in terms of delivering the value promised to customers depends largely on the performance of individual employees. Thus, in order to ensure that optimal effort is given on each and every call, management teams are required to implement contact center quality monitoring (QM). In most cases, this task is performed by a dedicated QM staff whose goal it is to ensure that required procedures are met while also conveying the messages and tones unique to each client. While QM focuses on assessing and improving an employee’s individual skills, its general purpose is two-fold: to meet the performance demands of contact center clients while also ensuring that operations remain compliant with industry standards. Manual Monitoring – An Inherently Challenging Process Typically, the QM process at most call centers involves an individual agent (be it a manager, supervisor or dedicated QM analyst) listening to individual calls and grading out an employee’s performance. After each assessment the results must then be shared through the appropriate channels, beginning with supervisors or shift managers and then with the individual employees themselves. These individual one-on-one sessions between employee and analyst or supervisor and analyst are essential in order to identify areas that need improvement. Finally, follow-up evaluations are required in order to ensure that education has been effective at helping employees improve the customer experience on his or her calls. While QM efforts are vital for improving contact center performance, the aforementioned process carries with it a number of inherent inefficiencies. These include: Resource management: Managing QM can force executive teams to walk a tight line between meeting the demands of client output and improving processes and performance. When developing a QM strategy, many often first look to supervisors and managers to perform these tasks. While their familiarity with the skills and weaknesses of their individual team members may offer valuable information to this process, adding QM to their already full schedules often requires asking them to sacrifice time and effort being dedicated to other areas. Oddly enough, the net impact of having supervisors perform QM is often a decrease in overall performance due to less attention being paid to other vital areas of operation.   The next solution would then seem to be to create a dedicated QM staff whose workflow would be centered on call evaluations and employee training. This eliminates the need for management to be extensively involved in the QM process and creates a team of subject matter experts that employees may be able to rely upon as a resource. However, it is important to keep in mind that creating such a resource would likely require pulling employees that have demonstrated the highest levels of performance off of the phones in order to effectively perform this function. While the anticipated payoff is that they would then be able to convey their skills on to other employees, the question becomes how long the center would be able to wait for the rest of its staff to replace the newly named QM analysts’ levels of performance? This leads to the final concern that manual QM presents in regards to resource management: time. If a team of supervisors or QM analysts is expected to turn the trends discovered during call evaluations into actionable information that helps employees improve customer engagement, then they need the time to both listen to calls and provide education. While the expectation is already in place, that call monitoring will be a primary function of a QM team, the amount of time needed to follow up with employees and managers if often not accounted for. Once evaluations have been done, the QM team must then pull supervisors away from their regular tasks to share results, and then pull employees off the phone to provide education. For contact centers already straining to deliver optimal output levels, such allocations of time may prove to be too great of a cost. Limited sample sizes: Because the QM process can be so expensive and does require so much time, managers or analysts can only afford to perform their assessments using small sample sizes. In many cases, the actual rate of assessed calls may often represent less than one percent of a contact center’s total output. One has to wonder if such a limited volume is able to produce an accurate depiction of overall employee performance.   Employees may argue that judging their capabilities on the phone off of a small random sample of their calls puts them at an inherent disadvantage. Depending upon their specific roles and responsibilities, they may feel more comfortable in certain areas than in others. Thus, while evaluating a call for a client or product with whom they are unfamiliar may serve to highlight their weaknesses, it fails to identify those areas which they may view as their strengths. Along with offering a potentially unbalanced assessment of an employee’s skills (or lack thereof), random call monitoring also may fail to show if employee education has truly taken hold. For example, if an employee were marked for a reassessment after having received training and education, reviewing a call from the week following said training may not show what he or she has learned and implemented than one from two-three weeks later. The trouble is, when pulling random call samples, QM analysts often have little control over the time frames from which their calls come from. One might argue that the solution to the problem of limited sample sizes is simply to increase his or her QM staff. However, wouldn’t such action simply serve as an example of throwing more resources at a process that’s already been proven to be somewhat ineffective? Objectivity: The final challenge that comes with manual QM monitoring is delivering objective results. When preparing the criteria that will be used to assess employee performance, the question has to be asked as to the basis used to develop it. Is it being prepared by upper-level executives based solely off of perceived client expectations, or former

Four Things to Know Before Merging AI to CX

Before you make the switch to utilizing bots which can be more cost effective and less frustrating to deal with, it is vital to keep in mind that they are a means to an end. Implementing them into your current strategy can be advantageous, but keep the following things in mind before merging artificial intelligence in customer service to CX. Not all customers will be satisfied One thing to keep in mind is that introducing bots into your strategy is not for everyone. It is true that now is the time for implementation and some people are open to the idea of dealing with bots, however, not all people are not convinced. Some prefer to deal with humans and will not be satisfied solely communicating with robots. Keep in mind also that despite your belief that the customers will not be able to tell, this is not true and it is wise to have a human being ready to take over for a customer who is frustrated with a robot. It is crucial to script your bot correctly If the bots are not set up properly, the customers will more likely become frustrated. Bots run mainly on scripts because they are not as sophisticated as Al-driven machines. If the script of a bot takes a customer astray, they will become even more frustrated and this can have detrimental effects on your business and reputation. In some cases, customers may even start to migrate to alternative companies and spread the work that their experience on the phone was frustrating. Bots are an agent’s best friend When a bot is capable of taking care of part of the call such as confirming an order or resetting a password, this helps avoid wasting the agents time and keeps them available to answer more specific customer questions or concerns. Bots are not able to provide care to customers Despite common beliefs, it is not possible to form relationships with bots and customers may miss the experience of connecting with a human being on the phone. When there is only one person, the emotional element of the conversation is missing and this can affect the customer’s overall experience. It is undeniable that people appreciate the value of human interactions. Carefully implementing bots into your current strategy can be beneficial to both your profits and the company as a whole. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the value of human interactions is priceless and delivering a high quality customer experience should be a top priority.

5 Effective Ways to Measure the Quality of Your Customer Service

As every modern business knows, there is a strong correlation between success and customer service quality. If you fail to make an authentic connection with your customers, they will simply take their business elsewhere. There are numerous, simple ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your customer service approach. If you are a business owner who is interested in customer service quality monitoring, the five following quality assurance techniques below may be able to provide you with guidance. Look for Flaws or Shortcomings in Your Operation : At times, the quality of your customer service can be linked to an unnoticed flaw or shortcoming in your daily business operations. For example, if you own a restaurant, and your patrons frequently complain about not receiving their dishes on time, the issue could be traced to an incompetent server or cook. In general, remaining aware of your own weaknesses can help you constantly improve your level of customer service. Evaluate the Supply and Demand of Your Products : Supply and demand are a major component of economics and business, but did you know that this concept can also be used to evaluate the quality of your customer service. Satisfied consumers tend to purchase more products from the same company. Simply put, if you are noticing a considerable number of repeat customers or clients on a regular basis, your customer service approach is probably working. Of course, outside economic factors can be major contributors to your data, so you may want to combine this method with others in order to get the most comprehensive snapshot of customer satisfaction. Research the Competition : Many business owners neglect to research their competitors’ approach to customer service. If your competitors have an immensely higher rate of customer satisfaction, you may be able to learn from their techniques. Simply visit or call your competitors’ establishment yourself, or send an employee to see how their approach to customer service differs from yours. If you want the most reliable data, ask your competitors’ customers what they like about the company. Examine the Number of Complaints You Receive : It is impossible to satisfy every single customer, but you can use the number of complaints you receive as a measuring tool. Some people assume that if the number of irate customers decreases it means that the quality of your customer service has increased. This is a common fallacy that causes many unknowing business owners to send their disgruntled customers to a competitor. For the most accurate data, combine this method with others. Ask Customers Directly : Have you ever considered asking your customers for their opinion directly? If not, you may be missing out an opportunity to compile a massive amount of reliable data. Some business owners prefer to ask customers directly, while others encourage them to fill out surveys. If neither of these tactics sounds appealing to you, follow-up phone calls can also help you better understand customer opinions. A Step in the Right Direction If you are truly interested in improving the quality of your customer service, the five tips listed above can point you in the right direction. If you follow them, you will expand your customer base, increase revenue and develop deeper connections with existing customers. This blog was first published on LinkedIn

Four Key Interaction Tips to Welcome Your Customers

If you run a business— no matter what the industry or service may be— you understand the importance of building strong relationships with customers. Giving customers a good experience will keep them coming back to you again and again. In turn, this means growth and stability for your business. However, creating this trust with customers isn’t always as easy as it sounds. It all starts at the beginning from the moment you meet a customer or potential customer. Customer greetings and initial interactions will go a long way in determining their level of satisfaction and whether you’ll see them again. Give Them a Warm Greeting and Welcome If you want to provide excellent customer service, start doing it from the minute your customer walks through your doors or calls you on the phone. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How would you feel about the business if you weren’t greeted right away or if you didn’t almost immediately see someone smiling at you and asking what they can do for you? The greeting doesn’t have to be anything out-of-this world. Keep it simple but make it friendly. Find Out What They’re Looking For Depending on what your services are, the customer’s needs might not be obvious. Sometimes the customer will make this known, but often, you need to find out for yourself through thoughtful questions or observations. Simply ask how you can be of assistance or if they have any particular preferences that you can accommodate. Ask what you can do to help. Respond Appropriately This requires listening. Customer experience will not be positive if you can’t address needs and desires. When you ask what the person is looking for, be prepared to address those needs accordingly. If you are confused by anything they say or ask, get clarification. Also, where applicable and possible, give the customer a timeline of how long it will take for you to meet their requests. Check in and Follow Up When you go to a restaurant, you appreciate it when a server or manager comes to your table a few times during the meal to make sure everything is all right. The visit can and should be brief, but the follow-up is essential for good customer service. Once the customer has made his or her purchase and is leaving your establishment, ask if their needs were met and then invite them back. Customer experience will go a long way to determining the success of your business. Welcoming clients appropriately will lead to long-term, devoted customers.

6 Secrets to Live Chat Efficiency

Once you’ve added live chat to your websites, don’t stop looking for ways to improve the customer experience. While there is no magic formula you can use to make everything about your business’ online presence perfect, here are some ways you can improve the efficiency of your company’s live web chat services. Establish Chat Priority Establish a system that allows chats to be answered right away. That system should also have some kind of survey or a brief set of questions for customers to answer to ensure their chats are routed to the right agents. Chat agents that handle multiple chats should be able to establish priority to ensure that each one is handled efficiently and properly. Minimize Chat Times Your agents may occasionally get a customer who has concerns that require them to engage longer than usual, but that doesn’t mean that all chats should take a long time to resolve. Implement measures to help your agents to minimize the amount of time it takes for them to address and resolve customers issues. Minimizing chat times can decrease response times and prevent long wait times. Live Web Chat Training is Important The best chat agents are those who undergo regular training and are always looking for ways to improve. In your quest to achieve the perfect balance between live chat agent productivity and efficiency, you need to invest in your agents’ skills by providing training and support. Don’t expect them to automatically know what to do and how to respond to different types of customer scenarios. Doing so can be counterproductive to them and your organization. Train your agents to enhance their soft skills and you’ll see an improvement in their responses to customers and reduce the amount of time it takes them to resolve customer concerns. Integrate Web Chat into Your CRM Your online chat team can become more efficient if you train them to capture customer information and update it as needed in your CRM. This makes it much easier for them to cater to the needs of your customers when they return at a later date for service or assistance. Canned Responses Even if your agents are required to be able to type 100 wpm, canned responses can greatly reduce their response times. One of your goals may be to provide customers with a more personable experience, but it certainly doesn’t hurt for your agents to use canned responses. In fact, these responses can provide your agents with additional time to provide customers with the resolutions they seek. Workstation Setup All of the shortcuts and canned responses in the world cannot reduce response time and increase agent productivity like having a dual monitor setup for each workstation. It’s easier on your agents’ eyes, their hands and facilitates a more immediate acknowledgment of customers to improve the overall efficiency of your organization’s live chat services. While the key to improving chat efficiency isn’t rocket science, it does require you to have a good chat solution. Etech Global Services recommends for you to periodically evaluate the tools, processes and agents you have in place so you can better determine their effectiveness and make improvements as needed. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

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

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