Call Center Management Featured Article
Improving the Customer Experience Starts with Defining It
Customers who have positive experiences with a company are more likely to remain loyal, purchase again, and recommend that company to others. Simply put, a positive customer experience can be defined as one that handles customer interactions in a way that meets or exceeds demands, expectations and satisfaction every time. It’s a double bonus for companies: handing out positive customer experiences both increases demand in the short term as well as loyalty in the long run.
So how can companies improve the quality of the customer experience? It starts with defining customer service. Too many companies have an incredibly narrow idea of a good customer support session, or they define if from the perspective of front-line call center employees (“That call had a low average handle time, which makes it good!”) rather than the customers themselves. Broaden your definition of the customer experience to every point the customer touches your organization, whether self-service, human-assisted, digital or in a physical store. From the first time a customer makes contact with a company, to the moment a customer ends their relationship, every process that has the customer as the focal point is part of customer experience.
While it sounds a little abstract, it can go a long way toward beginning a solid foundation on which an improved customer experience rests. Some of the specific things companies can do to improve the customer experience right away include:
Reducing hold times. Customers hate waiting on hold, and fewer of them are willing to do it. Once that customer hangs up, it’s unlikely you’ll get them back again. If hold times are longer than two or three minutes, it’s time to reexamine your forecasting and scheduling, and the way you manage your call queues.
Focusing on customer-centric metrics. Many call centers are still making the mistake of measuring metrics that benefit the company, not the customer. Holding down average handle time may seem to make sense, unless it’s resulting in customers with unresolved issues having to call back again. Focus on more customer-centric metrics such as first-call resolution or customer satisfaction, even if it costs more in the beginning.
Meeting the needs of agents. Agents are the most critical individual in a customer experience. They’re the voice and face of the company. If they’re overworked, underpaid, harassed or harried, customers will see it and feel it, and it’s nearly impossible to produce a good customer experience under these circumstances. Poll your agents about how you can make their work easier, whether it’s with more training, better knowledgebases, a consolidated desktop or more job flexibility.
“It’s essential to provide a positive work environment for customer service representatives,” wrote Matt Shealy for Customer Think. “For example, you can work with human resources to provide call center employees with job perks and career development opportunities. Also, make sure to establish a framework to address employee concerns. If you keep employees happy, they’ll keep customers happy.”
Edited by Maurice Nagle