Why Call Center Management Needs to Pay Attention to Consumer Behavior

When was the last time you had the complete and perfect shopping experience? The things you wanted were presented to you as soon as you walked in the door; the price was just right; you could easily find the complimenting items; and the service was quick, friendly and complete. It sounds like the ideal environment where the company truly understands you as the customer and creates the ultimate experience.

For call center management, this needs to be the focus on a daily basis. But in order to provide customers with what they really want, you have to be able to think like a customer. The only challenge is that your customers likely vary in their preferences and can be irrational at times. How can you get inside their heads when they seem to be a moving target? Perhaps the question you truly need to consider is whether or not your focus is in the right place.

The Star Tribune recently covered this topic, highlighting the challenges surrounding getting inside the mind of the consumer. Perhaps the biggest challenge is that consumers will say one thing and then do another. We’ve all seen the outcry against the big box stores coming in and wiping out mom and pop shops. We claim that we want to buy local and support the “little guy,” but when it comes right down to it, those aren’t the deciding factors when it’s time to spend our money.

In areas where the small stores are closing down, it’s not a matter of these stores being victim to high rent, poor quality products or even the economy. Owners tend to follow the same strategy they have followed for years and locals claim that they care about buying local. But when it comes time to make that purchase, the majority of the locals are actually going where the price and selection is better – not the local guy.

For call center management, it’s not about the individual walking in the door, but instead about the individual making contact on one of the available interaction channels. The process for handling requests may be designed according to customer feedback, but is that the best way to deliver the experience that customers want? Wouldn’t it be better to design your processes around consumer behavior?

The best way for call center management to get inside the head of the consumer is to pay attention to consumer behavior and activity. That is the true demonstration of how they feel about a product or service and is a better indicator of future actions as opposed to survey feedback. Consumers are finicky – what they do is much more valuable (and honest) than what they say.

Edited by Alicia Young