As customer service interactions go, there are few that fall into a middle ground “Its Okay” category. By-and-large it’s either amazing or terrible with very little wiggle room in-between.
Almost all business conferences or summits and panel discussions around customers today are highlighting how new tech platforms such as Ai driven client interactions are going to take customer experience to another level of sophistication that will save the day.
Why then are so many client interactions with large companies who have adopted advanced tech client interaction platforms, still so awful?
A recent experience has left me scratching my head after months of constantly having to go back to a financial services business to get my payments sorted out. And this is by no means an isolated incident.
Most customers are happy to allow some leeway for the company to address issues but increasingly the frustrations will drive clients to seek services elsewhere and lose customers without ever knowing the cause.
Simplifying customer interactions can lead to happier, more loyal customers. There is more choice than ever before, meaning customers are not forced to endure a customer experience (CX) that is characterised by clutter or unnecessary friction.
How, then, do businesses get it right?
Kelvin Brown, Customer Operations Executive from Telviva, shared his insights with BTA on how reducing customer effort leads to stronger loyalty and improved brand perception.
Kevins says that “It starts by balancing digital transformation with CX”. “Businesses are under pressure to implement digital channels and technologies such as artificial intelligence, they’ve heard about the benefits and everyone is speaking about AI, but the challenge, then, is ensuring that when new digital channels and technology such as AI are introduced, they improve efficiencies and don’t add to the problem”, he comments.
The truth is that enabling a digital channel without properly designed backend processes can harm CX. If the channel that a business is setting up is not suited to the engagement it is trying to conclude, and the backend process has not been automated effectively or formulated correctly, it forces customers to engage in complex, manual processes with agents. That’s where that CX is going to suffer, and ultimately result in an unhappy customer.
“It is abundantly clear that delivering the technology is only one part of the equation, says Brown,
There needs to be a holistic approach with the following components in place:
- The right technology,
- A comprehensive customer journey mapping exercise
- Proper facilitation of the required automation.
“In other words, you want your CX tech partner to deliver the channel and process, map your customer journey and ensure that automation makes for a fluid, seamless customer journey”, He says.
According to Brown, a key component of getting it right is matching the right channels against interaction complexity.
Simple transactions can be actioned using digital channels and a level of automation. On the other hand, more complex transactions should rely on human input and the use of traditional channels, such as voice and email.
“A good rule of thumb is: When an engagement is complex, go with the agent, when it is transactional, you can automate it” says Brown
CX System Set-up And QC Important
Delivering a good CX is not about making an investment in a tech platform and then forgetting about it. There needs to be ongoing regular quality assurance checks, and modern tools that enable real-time quality assurance can radically improve a customer journey.
Automated quality control has the ability to provide constant assurance as it is able to sample 100% of interactions as they happen. This is far more effective than traditional quality assurance which relies on humans where only a very small percentage of engagements are able to be sampled and checked.
This technology is giving rise to the new trend of real-time analysis, insights and intervention. This is where a business has the ability to transcribe a call in real time, is then able to analyse it and pick up on the sentiment of the engagement – whether it is by voice or text.
If an interaction is not progressing the way it is expected to, an alert can then trigger a human to intervene in order to remedy the issue and save that customer at that exact point of frustration.
Getting to that point of accuracy and sophistication however require the basics to be in place.
Getting the Basics Right
Simplifying customer engagements, requires successful channel management, and this goes beyond just implementing technology.
It is important that a CX Tech partner can deliver a full suite of technology, but it’s vital that they are also adept at mapping customer journeys efficiently while knowing how to design backend processes and automate effectively.
The best partners according to Brown “Must be able to manage contact centres as a service to ensure the sustained health of a customer engagement ecosystem”.
“Modern customers don’t stick around indefinitely – they demand a superior CX” brown Comments in closing.
