These days, a typical question that appears on customer surveys is “Did we meet your expectations?" The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them. Right now, customer expectations are at an all-time high, and exceeding a customer’s expectation is way to make sure they’ll be back in the future.
In just a few weeks, Angel, a provider of on-demand customer engagement solutions, will unveil its much-anticipated Outbound IVR solution, also known as Proactive Customer Communications, which will provide real-time information, faster service and more convenience – vastly exceeding its customers’ expectations. In developing Outbound, Angel’s goal was to create an enjoyable customer experience consisting of proactive and reactive communications.
“Organizations that utilize proactive outbound communications understand their customers. They have gathered preferences from customers that details what customers want to be informed about, how they want to be communicated with and when they want to receive those communications. Designing proactive outbound communications with that in mind will ensure an extraordinary CX (Customer Experience),” Steve Gass, senior product manager for proactive customer communications at Angel, told TMCnet in an exclusive interview.
Angel's Outbound solution gives clients cloud tools including CX Builder, Outbound Campaign Manager and CX First Analytics, which enable clients to quickly develop, launch and measure campaigns anytime, anywhere.
“The client's goal is to create a proactive outbound CX interaction that is timely, relevant and engaging that drives consumers to take action. Those interactions are driven by consumer data, which is a key ingredient necessary to ensure a positive experience for both consumer and clients,” said Gass.
Proactive outbound communications are used to reach out to customers before they call in to an IVR or contact center. With Angel’s Outbound, enterprises can anticipate customer needs and take action in order to diffuse potentially frustrating situations.
“Organizations that understand their business flows are better prepared to provide information to their customers before the customer asks for it, ensuring higher customer satisfaction,” he explained.
According to Gass, outbound communications benefits enterprises in three key ways including:
1. Increased customer satisfaction - achieved by pushing information to customers before they ask
2. Decreased costs - through contact center efficiencies
3. Increased revenue realization - by brand recognition via cross-sell or up-sell opportunities.
The most common use for proactive outbound is to push relevant data to customers. Since a typical call in to a contact center costs $5-$15, organizations are looking to reduce those expenses and rely on proactive outbound communications to push that data to customers through a lower cost channel.
“Many financial services organizations that use revenue control practices utilize proactive outbound communications to remind customers of past due payments, giving them options to bring their account current though IVR use,” said Gass. “Those financial institutions track and measure the cost of liquidity of all contact channels and find proactive outbound to be a successful means for improving contact center success while reducing costs.”
Overall, Outbound will achieve increased customer satisfaction and ultimately, customer loyalty. The keys to improving customer satisfaction and building loyalty is to not be invasive when communicating with customers.
Gass suggests avoiding unsolicited communications that comes with the negative connotation of being 'robocalls.’ Also, ensure that the communications are personalized and timely for the customer. Organizations should also use a multi-channel strategy to communicate as it’s important to keep the customers’ needs in mind when communicating with them. Lastly, organizations should be aware that any interaction with customers is an opportunity to increase brand awareness and loyalty.
Angel envisions that in the future, more organizations will develop outbound communication strategies that place personalized customer interactions above volume communication blasts. Businesses that focus on engaging their customers in a way that is tailored to their preferences will build customer trust as well as improve customer loyalty.
Stay tuned for more to come about Angel’s latest Outbound product release that is just a few weeks away!
Edited by Rachel Ramsey