Customer communications are all opportunities for creating satisfaction and additional revenue, but simply connecting with your customers is not enough. You have to know who your customer is, why they are getting in touch with you, what they hope to accomplish in the process, when they are making that connection and how they choose to communicate. It sounds simple enough, but as any customer-facing enterprise knows, this is much easier said than done.
If you hope to implement an effective IVR system to support your self-service initiatives toward a positive end, however, it’s time to get started. A recent Angel blog highlighted the importance of clearly understanding the customer and their attempts to make a connection. This requires that you scale your business knowledge around the customer and his or her preferences in real-time, making it available to any agent on any channel at any time.
The same information also needs to be available for the IVR, ensuring that the same personalized experience customers enjoy when interacting with a live agent is delivered through the automated system. Fortunately, there are cloud-based systems that are backed by analytics to help create the positive customer experience. Analytics solutions will track each interaction a customer has with your company and store the information for future use.
At any time in the future, the same customer can interact with your agents or your IVR and that information can easily be retrieved to ensure the delivery of a quality interaction. It also helps your agents to gain a better understanding of the who, where, what, when and how related to any interaction. The insight captured with these interactions also help to identify what customer service initiatives are working, the more popular channels for communication and the tools needed on the calling floor to meet customer expectations.
The information captured with each interaction also allows you and other decision makers to develop a more thoughtful approach to each customer communication. For instance, the information captured allows you to ensure the IVR navigation and messaging are designed according to the who, where, what when and how for the target audience. This approach ensures that you’re actually putting the needs of the customer first.
Every interaction between your company and your customer is an opportunity to capture information that will continue to improve your performance. Keep in mind that your competitive advantage will often rest on your ability to create the optimal experience for every customer. It doesn’t matter which channel they use, whether it’s your IVR, a live agent in the call center or an e-mail; the experience should be consistent and focused on customer satisfaction. If this isn’t a priority built into your strategy, it may be time to go back to the planning table. Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida. Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.
Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli