Hello!
Netflix instantly starts the next episode. Amazon recommends items you might need that you may not have thought of. Tesla also offers Wi-Fi software updates that allow you to download new features and software for your car. These exceptional experiences have become a norm for consumers, and they expect the same from other companies. Failure to provide a high level of customer experience (CX), can lead to financial loss.
However, not all companies are putting customers’ preferences first.
According to the State-of-customer experience report, consumers worldwide place FCR (first call resolution) as the most important criterion when it comes to service interactions.
CX leaders state that their companies place a high value on professionalism, speed, and trustworthiness when dealing with customers. Only 41% of respondents said that their company provides FCR at an exceptional level.
Customers may have to contact multiple channels or call back in order to focus on speed and not resolutions. Customers can feel frustrated and less satisfied if this happens. Actually, only 4% of customers will repurchase after high-effort interactions, as opposed to 94% who have low-effort interactions.
This holds true for all loyalty program members. According to Harvard Business Review, research has shown that loyalty program members are more upset when they experience service failures such as shipping problems.
Let’s look at ways we can reduce customer effort.
What Was It You Wanted?
Consumers expect to be heard, heard, and understood no matter what channel they use. According to McKinsey & Company, 75% of people who first used digital channels during the COVID-19 pandemic said they will continue using them once things are back to normal.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is perfect. Chatbots are being used more frequently by consumers to provide service,
but they are finding the experience less rewarding. 35% of chatbot users said they were satisfied in 2017; only 25% of those who used chatbots said the same in 2021.
Customers may need to switch channels in many cases for assistance. Customer who contacts agents directly may have failed to use self-service. Customers who have tried multiple times to connect via other channels can be valuable data for your organization.
Let’s Get Personal
These issues can be fixed in a variety of ways by companies.
Build better bots: Conversational Bots use AI to gather intent and streamline CX. Instead of being greeted with “How may you assist me?”the customer is greeted with “I see that you have an error on the previous webpage.” You would like to help?
Enhance self-service: Predictive AI and natural language understanding can make any self-service interaction feel more personal. For superior service, agents can be contacted if an agent is required.
Leverage CX analytics: Analytics can help you understand what customers are doing to drive interaction volume and their intentions. It also allows you to plan how to engage them in the future. Agents can be more attentive, listen to customers and align with them. This will help eliminate any pain points along the way.
CX is more affected by making customers wait on hold than any other thing. According to the “State customer experience” report, only 20% of customers consider it acceptable to wait more than five minutes. However, consumers all over the world wait twice as long.
CX leaders reported a wait time of 10.4 minutes during normal hours, and a shorter wait time in off-peak hours at 8.4 minutes. These numbers were fairly consistent across industries and geographies.
Make It Easy — 24/7
Keep your customers happy. These are some tips to make your customers’ lives easier.
Deploy voice bots: Automated virtual agents are available 24/7 to answer your calls. Voice bots have access to relevant data and can recognize customers, understand the context and use AI to personalize calls. Voice bots can pass customer information to agents when necessary.
Use predictive routing: AI-powered automatic routing personalizes CXthrough routing interactions to agents most likely to solve customers’ problems.
Offer a callback option: Callback allows customers to control the time and duration of their phone conversations. Customers can request a callback at their convenience or schedule one right away with just a click.
Improve workforce forecasting and scheduling: You can manage spikes in volume better with a fully integrated solution that offers precise forecasting and flexible scheduling.
Give Customers What They Crave
Customers are looking for empathy and not efficiency more than ever. Customers want personal interactions that make them feel valued and remembered, no matter what channel they use when they use it, or how they interacted in the past.
Market leaders of tomorrow will manage the customer journey from sales through marketing to service, providing personalized experiences each step of the way. They will match customers with the best agents to assist them.
They’ll also support employees with assistive technology that gives them full context and the best next steps.
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